A nice solve for a Saturday, with the usual eye rolls and groans once I’d figured out a particularly punny twister. Fun clueing for ISLANDHOPS and PIERCEDEAR. The picture of the bat in today’s column brought back memories of fixing up an old house and, before having everything sealed up and insulation blown into the walls, the awful incidents (yes, more than once) of bats flying around inside. I’d rather they were outside chasing down mosquitoes.
The best moment of the day so far is the flash mob playing Bolero. For some reason, flash mobs make me unbelievably happy and teary at the same time.
Now, off to the National Archives and the Smithsonian museums where my college senior and I are spending her spring break.
2
Can anyone explain SIC to me ? I don’t get the doggy connection...
Merci !
In English, "SIC" (often rendered as "sic 'em") is a command to a dog to attack a person or thing.
De rien.
1
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sic/
1
This was a true Saturday workout for me; the first time through left me with only ELIA, ISLAND HOPS and BEERYS plus several wrong guesses. I needed to Google every unknown movie- and book- associated clue to get enough fill that I could rely on to be correct.
My favorite moment came when the answer to "mildly quaint" reminded me of a favorite story of my New England grandmother about the old lady who baked two different pies for a holiday bake sale. To identify which was which she scratched TM on one crust for "T'is Mince" and TM on the other crust for "T'ain't Mince."
2
Are there many comments that have gone missing? More threads than usual seem disjointed, or refer to things I can't find in the thread.
?
3
When the NYTimes relies on USA Today, the results leave something to be desired. This year’s MLB opening day is NOT the earliest in history. That honor belongs to the 2000 opener, which also took place on March 29th, between the Mets and the Cubs. But since that series took place in Tokyo, it was actually earlier from an American point of view (it was torture getting up in the middle of the night to watch the Mets lose!).
2
Good catch!
As a Mets fan I am doubly redfaced, I suppose. I'll make that in the United States.
First, congratulations and best wishes on your upcoming nuptials, Ryan and Quinton. And happy birthday to Quinton.
I disagree with both the constructor and Jeff on two points.
One, both praise the interconnectedness of the grid. Before reading either, my thought was just the opposite, that access between the three sections of the puzzle was quite limited. When I didn't get anywhere in NW (although I thought of ICE CAPADES but was unsure), I wound up entering the middle swath first. Took a chance on ICE CAPADES, and was able to tiptoe into NW. But getting into SE meant starting clean in that section instead of letting the puzzle take me there. GEAR at 28A hinted at cars or bicycles, but I'd never heard of GEAR TRAINS, and the only other way in started with an S. (So of course I went with SLATE before STEEL.)
My other disagreement is with the dislike of BEERYS. It was a gimme (and a lot of help opening up the virgin territory of SE). Clued with reference to Noah and Wallace, what else could it be?
I dredged up some memory of ANIMANIACS, although without a clue who/what they are. BARBARA EDEN was a gimme, although I disliked the show a whole lot. PET BIRD needed all the crosses. I didn't even know there was an Iago anywhere outside of "Othello."
I saw "Being John Malkovich," but don't remember much about it, including that ORSON BEAN was in it.
Many of the missteps mentioned by others, but quickly fixed. Thanks for a terrific puzzle (or three).
2
That was quite the workout, taking half again as much time as my average Saturday. First filling up the lower right rather fast, then the lower left much more slowly, then the upper right a whole heckuva lot more slowly, a n d f i n a l l y t h e u p p e r l e f t: GAS TAP. Very satisfying to complete!
Maybe reading the notes I'll find out why the diagram looks like a great big S.
Me too, Polymath, on filling in GAS TAP last. I had GAS, and those missing three letters made the downs impossible until I tried T and it all fell into place. But the whole puzzle, expect for that corner, went very quickly for me. Half of my usual Saturday time.
Time taken was less than Wednesday, but more enjoyable. Paradoxical?
Caitlin thank you for the BOLERO! Flashmobs, with music or performance apppearing from nothing,
Ahh the delight ! https://youtu.be/-bnYpCiwV2Q
4
Never saw that one before Laura. The mass air-guitar display on the Queen song was totally awesome. Thanks for sharing!
2
Wow this was hard for me! Got by myself only DESADE, DNA, FIESTA, BOLERO and OHHI, and, wrongly, SUNBED instead of UVLAMP, EXCELLENT instead of SLEEPAPNEA, ENERGY instead of ONLINE. The perfect patsy for misdirection! Then son arrived and with our heads together we got everything with just a couple of lookouts. What a joy! And aren’t these very long words wonderful?
1
This was as great puzzle today! I started off with DESADE and HIGHANDAWAY (thanks, Dad), and everything just seemed to fall right in afterwards. I did make a few missteps (ZINC for DISC, DEERYS for BEERYS, TRAILS for GEARTRAINS, and GAZE for GAPE and ANIMALIACS for ANIMANIACS), but soon got those sorted. Really liked some of the crosses: POI/ISLANDHOPS; HIGHANDAWAY/BIGBATS. Thank goodness we recently had Winter Olympics -- I heard HOST CITY quite a bit, so that was an easy fill.
All in all, a pretty fun challenge with an interesting grid construction.
Still racking my brain for a song we discussed yesterday, but the "Bolero" video is an awesome diversion.
2
I found this easy for a Saturday, finished in about average Wednesday time. ANIMANIACS, BEDELIA crossing BARBARAEDEN, and ICECAPADES were all big gimmes that opened the floodgates. Caught on to any cluing misdirection with no problems. Feeling insufferably smug.
Keeping an eye on the TV, watching today's Yankees-Mets preseason game as I type. Yanks have a lot of BIGBATS in the lineup this year. Was that last pitch HIGHANDAWAY?
Prog-rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer's 1972 album "Trilogy" includes the instrumental piece "Abaddon's BOLERO." The only Abaddon I know of is a biblical fallen angel, and if this BOLERO sounds like a knockoff of Ravel's, well, I guess there's only so much one can do with a BOLERO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St4zeBMNXX4
2
Just a terrible start.
energy --> ONLINE
into --> RAPT
irate --> GOTTO
vaguely remembered Iago as a PARROT[T?] type of PETBIRD
tried 'mildly' quaint ARESO and AMTOO, then 'overly' quaint DASN'T before TISN'T.
OH me!!
Things improved notably for me by the good graces of BARBARA_EDEN and the ICE_CAPADES. Much more enjoyment than Grrrumbling.
Noted en passant:
*ADE always seems to denote a cool drink, but who's chugging DiEthylStilbestrol anymore? Sade...
*ONE_MAN_ARMY is allright, unless it's Dick Army... or Rimbeau...
*After the recent focus on the UVULA, the UVuLA MP had me wonder who went AWOL
*After the recent BEIN' COUNTER, it was pretty funny to have ORSON BEING John Malkovich
*Had no issue with the Noah and Wallace BEERYS, but actually preferED WYNNS. Skoal!!
*If some ISLAND-HOPping Olympics were held in St. Pierre and Miquelon, would they be HOST ILES?
Very satisfying 41-minute Saturday, Tisn't as though half the time weren't spent in the NW corner, bec twasn't.. Now let's see if My Beloved Heels can extinguish the UVa LAMP in a ROUT tonight. Go, BEERrY, GET SWEaT!!
Enjoy your respective weekends, all y'all.
3
I've always loved the BOLERO, but what on earth is a BUB?
BUB is often used to address an unknown person to start a conversation or ask a question, "Hey, BUB, gotta light?" for instance.
It's like PAL, or MAC, or BUDDY. "Hey, BUB, watch what you're doing!"
"What's the hubbub, BUB?"
Caitlin, I didn’t understand at all your picture choice for leading off the column today. Then I read the headline and got it. Brilliant!
1
Loved this one. When I slay a Saturday in under an hour (I'm slow but steady) with no lookups, I'm a happy camper.
Caitlin: Though millions love it (including me), Ravel reportedly hated his Bolero. But if you don't know his major works, you're in for a treat! Highly recommended: the two piano concertos (one for two hands, one for one); the incredible suite for solo piano, Gaspard de la Nuit; the string quartet; the sensuous ballet Daphnis and Chloë. Enjoy!
Ryan and Quinton: Congrats on your upcoming nuptials!
4
For 39A, had Shortz before DESADE.
7
Incidently, seems the "link" to comment on today's variety puzzle is missing.
1
Yes, the comment box doesn't show up
"...the "link" to comment on today's variety puzzle is missing."
More pain for you from Shortz?
2
I kept looking behind walls for studs, and at lock sets on doors for new keys (once I ruled out the ill-fitting and too literal "modulates"). The light bulb moments for those two clues were sublime.
There are a lot of strike-out prone BIG BATS who can't lay off the pitch thrown HIGH AND AWAY. Making it a very good pitch.
3
I can't believe I made it through this one with no look-ups! I had a huge empty section in the east, but ATE led to STEEL led to ISLANDHOPS led to UVLAMP led to JOVE and the rest falling without even knowing some of them: BERRYS, BUB (oh, I see), ERMA (never heard of that book), and GEARTRAINS (clueless about that sort of thing and had GEARTRACKS for the longest time, which is nonsense as far as I know). Great puzzle -- tough enough to have to labor over, but "gettable."
5
Yay perseverance!
2
Got them all, though I had no idea about Bedelia!
However, my greatest pleasure was the Opera North flash-mob rendition of Bolero. In the past, I despised Bolero for the endless and monotonous repetition of its haunting theme. As soon as I heard the opening notes on the radio, I changed stations or turned it off. Now, being able to visualize the successive appearances of the various instruments, I totally enjoyed the experience and will no longer shudder when I hear Bolero. Thanks for the video!
2
So, here's the 18th-century version of the opposite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjFeDk6Kr3U
Haydn's Farewell Symphony - where, during the final movement, the players get up and leave the stage, little by little, right up to the end. It was a not-so-subtle message to the musicians' employer that it was time to grant them a break from their duties.
3
"Stared blankly at this [picture in blog] for several minutes, looking for a [facial feature]."
What turned out to be a bat UPSIDE DOWN (of course?) I misinterpreted in multiple ways.
a) What turns out to be the tongue, I thought was an ear.
b) What I thought was the right eye, turns out to be the left.
c) What I thought was the left eye, turns out to be the nose.
d) What I thought to be the nose, turns out to be the right eye.
So instead of what turns out to be a bat upside down, I thought was a bat looking at you with its head rotated slightly. Like one of those pictures that is either a horse or a frog:
http://brainpages.org/do-you-see-a-frog-or-a-horse/
I also admit it took me a while to realize why this picture was there (because it was a BIG BAT).
n e e d t h a t s e c o n d c u p p a j o e
5
Wow! Even though I saw the upside-down bat to start with, I managed to follow your instructions and re-constellate my vision to see the slightly tilted bat you must have seen. I'm not much for bats in either orientation, but I do tend to prefer the upside-down version of this picture. The version you describe seems a bit distorted (or malformed). The upside-down guy looks much healthier and happier.
1
I must have thought it was one of those nose distortion effects of selfies they have been talking about. What "jumped out" at me is the "right eye" that I thought was the nose like a puppy, and the rest fell in place. I guess. I had to physically turn the screen upside down to see the regular face!
1
Another version, the famous Duck Rabbit:
http://www.duckrabbitbrewery.com/
1
For my entry into this daunting puzzle, I would like to thank Maurice Ravel. I would like to express my gratitude to Charles Lamb for choosing a 4-letter pen name, beloved of constructors, and Larry Hagman for dreaming of Jeannie.
Darling Wallace BEERY always reminds me of my father-in-law; both are long gone but live on in my affection. Noah BEERY no doubt had a great time with James Garner in 'The Rockford Files.'
Instead of entering my first guess (EAR LOBE, which didn't fit anyway) I wrote French cuff, breeding barn, and ear lobe in the margin; ditto for 7A 'For all to see,' BRAZEN being my first choice. Oh well.
Last entry was the T in GAS TAP, a new one on me (which kind of pilot? Airline? Gas station franchise? original concept for a TV show?) Ta Da!
Yay me!
5
Wallace Beery is also a long-time favorite, especially when paired with Marie Dressler. This clip is a bit more Dressler but still one of my very favorite movie scenes:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/206256/Tugboat-Annie-Movie-Clip-Jawbo...
..
3
This had some really cool clues. I was hung up for a long time by 9D, but when I finally got TELLS I thought it was a stroke of genius.
I don’t know about GASTAP, though. On every gas appliance I’ve ever had, the pilot light is either just on all the time or else comes on electrically (electronically?). I never thought of the tap having much to do with the flow of gas to the pilot.
I beat my Saturday average by about two and a half minutes.
Stared blankly at this grid for several minutes, looking for a foothold. Finally gotbone at DESADE, and before long I realized, "By JOVE, I've got it!" Went to a spring training game yesterday, where indeed some pitches were HIGHANDAWAY.
5
That should of course be "got one." Stubby fingers...
FIESTA and FIREPLACE were my first and only fast fills. The rest came slowly with many erasures (so easy on a laptop). After I could get no more, I turned to Caitlin and got GEAR TRAINS. That got me through everything but the N and S in ANIMANIACS. That's about as good as a Saturday gets for me.
More Huzzahs for the Bolero!
1
What a wonderful musical start to the weekend. Fun puzzle that we eventually conquered without lookups... then off I went to YouTube for more Iberian music, such as https://youtu.be/_MS332sS7cA...
4
Caitlin writes:
"I thought GAS TAP sounded made up. It’s actually in reference to a pilot light, on a stove, which relies on the gas line (or “tap”) to boil or simmer."
A TAP is a "valve" for liquid or gas, not a line; with water, we often call it a faucet. There is a tap on the gas line to the stove; the individual burner controls are also taps. The tap on the line to the stove would "control" the pilot (open, pilot light lit; closed, pilot light not lit). For stoves -- after kitchen matches but before electric ignition -- a pilot light burns a tiny amount of gas at all times. When you open a TAP for a specific burner, the gas flowing to that burner ignites. The pilot light itself does not change in intensity ("to boil or simmer").
4
I'm old enough to remember having all the doors and windows open in the Summertime (pre-A/C), having a breeze blow through, then having to re-light all the pilot lights. Anyone else?
8
The GASTAP's connected to the - GASline
The GASline's connected to the - GASmeter
The GASmeter's connected - GASmain
Now here's the GASbill from the PSNC.
I absolutely love cooking with GAS; thanks or the intro, BarryA
8
My mother never did have A/C, Jeff, but she only had one stove, so there was only one pilot light to re-light.
3
Our constructor writes: "This puzzle is a bit un-millennial of me in that much of the grid is skewed toward older references, which may trip up some younger solvers." I reply: "And may make it easier for some older solvers." My water clock? TISNT precise, but this was a CADENCED solve, with most tricky clues more like TELLS. Brief off-color (not RATED G) thought of slate before STEEL, wanted eats before ANTS for the food stand line, and then there's that silly zinc. When two of the three long down entries in the east, middle and west appeared with just a few or even no crosses, I knew it would soon be in the CAN and I could EXHALE and have a few BEERYS.
4
Matt Parker looks at the physics & math of coin discs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qqPKKOU-yY
Animaniacs was a fun surprise - and a quick entry into that upper left section.
2
Can't believe I finished this. Had FIREPLACE and not much else up top, but managed to get going in the bottom and work my way back up. Didn't think of the TV series for 14a at first, and even when I did it took some crosses to recall the actress.
Took me a while but still very satisfying to over and over again get just that one more letter that was enough to have an answer dawn on me. I also enjoy typing out long awkward sentences.
Nice puzzle with a lot of good entries.
6
14d, not 14a.
..
1
Tough, as was to be expected on Saturday. I needed three pop-cultural look-ups: The cast of “Parenthood” in order to nail the NE, and the cast of “Devious Maids” plus a list of old toons in order to overcome the NW corner.
The climate in the southern hemigrid (the word exists, but perhaps not in the present context) was more benign. I was quite pleased to have the BEERYS called to mind.
TIL: GEAR TRAINS
2
Ravel, Ten, Bolero. GASjet caused some delays but much of the long fill came with a twitch of my nose. Jeannie or Tabbithia reference.
Nice to see my former employer in the grid.
Solid Saturday, stated Tom.......
NSA?
You must have missed some comments recently, RMP. I know that dk used to work for BARBARA EDEN.
Unh-uhn. The ICE CAPADES.
This was three puzzles, the islands (NW and SE), and the big Superman S swath. I wanted to get the islands out of the way first, because puzzle islands can be scary dead ends, where nothing can help you if you have gaps. These islands fell, and quickly for a Saturday. Yay!
My worst area was my final hole, the NE, where having "ZINC" instead of DISC held me up, and the clue for TELLS ("Giveaways") was sinister. I finally figured out RATEDG and boom went the puzzle.
I put BLT in first for "Mac alternative", and there was a memorable moment in the NE, where I had "GAZE" for "Goggle", and HADA_____ for "Couldn't say 'say,' say", and thought the answer was going to be "HADASPAZ". "No, please no!!!," my entire inner being RAILed.
The grid is squeaky clean, with lovely long downs, especially ONEMANARMY, HIGHANDAWAY, ANIMANIACS, and GOFORASPIN, with my two favorite clues being those for ANTS ("Line at a food stand?") and ISLAND HOPS ("Changes keys?"). Was my day better off for doing this puzzle? You betcha, Ryan -- thank you sir!
8
I hadn't yet got BOLERO, David, so didn't think of BLT.
I had SUB, as in the sandwich.
1
I had SUB too. I’m going to keep scrolling up the comments in the hope that someone explains BUB and SIC. I got them from the crosses but am stumped.
Fewer lookups again than usual for the end of week puzzles. I remembered the BEERYS, needed a couple of letters before I could think of BARBARA EDEN's name, but had to look up BEDELIA.
Am I the only one who thought of energy for 13A?
I got FIRE PLACE almost immediately, but was fooled by the ISLAND HOPS clue, and like others thought it great.
I hope Ryan keeps doing late week puzzles.
2
I had ENERGY for 13A too...
2
Tough for me in SE Had BUD instead of BUB. Tried METCENARYS for ONEMANARMY. Finally got it untangled. Well done puzzle.
Will someone please explain 13A?Thanks.
Email, ezine, etc. reference to online
Doh. I'd just been thinking of e by itself. Thanks.
1
I, too, Caitlin, say thank you for the Bolero clip. I was fascinated by it in the 1950’s when I was growing up in a small town in Northern Ontario 500 miles from Toronto, maybe 150 miles from James Bay. Even in those quaint bygone days :), with only an AM radio and a 1950’s mono record player we had classical music, jazz, the pop hit parade, the country hit parade, folk, Broadway musicals, spirituals, and more. Who needed the internet when in summer we could pick up the signal from a Chicago radio station with a midnight jazz show, hosted by Sid (I think) McCoy with his theme song “The Real McCoy” by Frank Sinatra? I was supposed to be asleep when my older brother, a jazz fan, was listening to it, but I was falling in love with Barbara Streisand and Nancy Wilson.
But, as much as I enjoyed watching the video tonight for the music, what fascinated me was watching all the people taking pictures and videos with their phones. I live in a small, somewhat remote community now and seldom see people using their cell phones in that manner. I also seldom go to places where people do use their phones like that. I paid more attention to the phone people in the video than I did to the music. The video was a double treat for me.
6
Peter, I had to go look up which Chicago radio station that was - WCFL. I grew up in Upper Michigan and in the mid-60's when I typically spent every evening driving around town with some friends ('pounding the drag'), that and WLS and WOWO (Ft. Wayne, Indiana) were our go-to stations. I think I was a little late for the show you mentioned, but Sid McCoy is vaguely familiar.
Oh, and it's nice to hear that there are still places where people aren't constantly on their cell phones.
1
I would imagine many (most) of the phone photographers were capturing the raw video footage that used to make the final video.
1
RiA.
When I was in Mississippi, there were jonly two radio stations that came in when I was driving late at night. One was WLS from Chicago, and the other was some country music station with ads from a place called Randy's Record Shop.
I was very glad to have access to WLS.
1
GAS TAP is both a rarely-used term, and badly clued. Not an auspicious lead-in, but otherwise a fine piece of work.
BUB, if memory serves, is short for BEELZEBUB, not a very friendly reference. But perhaps MAC has an equally shady history.
3
I agree that GAS TAP could have been much better clued.
If we take the "gas tap" to be the valve we're taught to turn off in case of earthquake or other disaster, it certainly controls any pilot lights you might have, in stoves, ovens, furnaces, etc.
That said, GAS TAP could have been more *clearly* clued but it is arguable whether that would make for a *better* clue on Saturday.
I don't think I've ever had a stove with any sort of thingy that I was supposed to turn off in the event of earthquake. All I know is that we were always cautioned to relight our pilots if they went off during any kind of outage.
Alas, thanks to my landlord, I only have electric applicances now. I am sad.
Swell video – well done, Caitlin (liked the bat pic too)! Interesting how the flash mob phenomenon seemed to spark a genre of public performances that are anything but impromptu. And this is a swell puzzle, with clever, acute cluing marred only by a tiny glitch here and there, maybe, depending how picky you feel.
For various reasons “Pilot control” should have been “pilot controlled,” with a fine crop of misleading possible answers. (The pilot light, always on, is not controlled by but simply waits to ignite the gas that boils the water.) I'm also not crazy about descriptive phrasal answers (Weird: ITSODD) unless there's some existing vernacular hookup to the clue, as in HIGHANDAWAY (over-clued here, I thought). But the rest is excellent, especially "Arrangements of teeth": GEARTRAINS and “Changes keys": ISLANDHOPS. And yes, I too cried “Aha!” and started to type MODULATES, saved only by its being too short. On the other hand, what a disaster that 1D accommodated KILLED TIME perfectly. Even liked the canine commands. If we must have fill, let it be dog-related.
1
Cae, the gas for a propane gas stove comes from a propane tank. There is a tap on the tank to open or close the flow of the gas to the stove so, in a way, the tap is controlling the pilot light.
2
Thanks Peter.
I didn't (don't) know anything about propane gas stoves and am familiar only with the pilot lights on regular kitchen stoves. I'd never heard of GAS TAP and figured it was something to do with the installation of the appliance.
In my experience, the gas tap (valve) that "controls" the pilot light (i.e. turns it on or off) is located at the end of the supply pipe where it comes out of the wall for connection to the back of a stove.
Great puzzle.
When i gave up on DOWN AND AWAY the NE filled in pretty quick.
And love that it intersects with BIG BATS.
Ah. The crack of the bats... the sounds of spring.
2
Forty-nine across. :- (
What is wrong with you folks? Also 27 Down...ugh.
1
When I came to 49A, I said to myself, "I wonder how long it will take."
Answer, about an hour and forty minutes.
Thought it would be sooner.
27D, not so much.
And that's all I'm going to say.
5
I'm confused....what's wrong with those entries, and what did you know was going to happen?
1
Sleigh, i don't know but I am guessing that someone is anti-hunting and does not like to think of a dog being ordered to sic.
3
The Bolero video is spectacular.
Thanks Caitlin.
5
Pretty quick. Some clever clues like Changing keys? for ISLAND HOPPING! Would like to be in the Florida Keys right now instead of dealing with all our nor'easter snow!
1
Pretty tough. I stayed with ZINC rather than DISC for coins far too long. As a result, NE was the last to fall. A challenge, but fair.
7
ZINC misled me for a long time. Then I started Googling and learned that zinc is not that common a metal in American coins after all. And indeed, I have encountered coins from more than one place in the world that were not DISCs.
2
Very good puzzle. Tight and fresh. There was a lot to like.
Liked the clues for NSA, ISLAND HOPS, REDEALT, TELLS, RATE G.
Iffiest entry is probably TISNT. But I'm ok with it.
For some reason things clicked quickly. Less than half my average.
Also some recent cross-crossword references.
For example RATED G - as RMP pointed out before me with 2 other previous puzzles. And 16A Couldn't say "say," say - like the entry referring to the song from a few puzzles back.
Interesting that TELLS crossed FIREPLACE which is a poker site.
Didn't realize ICECAPADES was no more. That's too bad.
2
There's still the Ice Follies; just happened this Feb past at Marathon Beach, Lake Nipissing.
I also saw that TELLS crossed the 'Poker site' clue; thought it a sneaky way to introduce some misdirection.
1
RATED G,X,G on Wed, Fri, Sat. Someone is going to lots of movies? Lots of 2, 3, 4 word answers. Time to turn in early. Maybe check tomorrow afternoon to see what so many of you have enjoyed!
3
I've sometimes wondered in all seriousness (well, some seriousness) what someone might have been reading while constructing, based on clues of vaguely similar provenance.
1
Thanks for the video, Deb! That made my night!
3
Caitlin.
3
Ditto on the thanks for the Bolero clip, Caitlin. I listened to it three times through (so far), and forwarded the YouTube link to members of a choir I sing in for their enjoyment. Mesmerizing!
Favorite moments:
The lone snare drum starting it all off.
The conductor taking out his baton and taking charge.
The babe in arms leaning over the cello, experiencing first-hand that the making of music does not require electronics. (#1 best moment in the clip!!)
The oboe and the string bass coming down the escalator (at separate times).
Various shots of enthralled shoppers.
The man in the crowd near the end pounding his fist into his hand in utter glee.
The loud ovation, mixed clapping and "woo"-ing after the cutoff.
The cumulative "wow" of the whole experience.
That clip is a keeper!
(It doesn't hurt that these guys are professional-level musicians, and the performance itself is spot-on.)
7
I've seen it before but never get tired of it; thanks Caitlin.
1
I was struck by the interesting appearance of the grid and the black squares winding around from top to bottom. Then I realized that DNA was right in the middle of the helix. Lovely!
I went for ASHER before JUDAH, so I had to fix that. Got BARBARA EDEN immediately, and BEERYS, but ORSON BEAN came from the crosses. I spent too much time trying to think of specific Olympics site before realizing it was more generic. Nice puzzle.
15
Thanks for that observation! I hadn't noticed that and it's pretty cool.
2
My gosh this is my line and I didn't notice that! Good Eye!
6
Aha! I'd noticed an S shape but without getting why at all. Thanks.