De retour de Barcelone, week-end intense, mais surtout beaucoup de rencontres enrichissantes : un diplomate, un écrivain, un rp, une colloc de plusieurs filles, une étudiante-bloggeuse en Erasmus... Peu de sommeil, j'ai chopé la crève en prime mais je vous ai ramené de belles photos et vidéos !
En sortant d'un resto avec Margaux, alors que nous nous apprêtions à rejoindre nos lits, nous sommes passées devant le fameux cabaret "Chez Michou".
Après un petit stop devant l'entrée, curieuses que nous sommes, nous nous sommes chauffées pour finir la soirée parmi les travestis sosies des stars de nos parents... Une soirée inoubliable !
Nous avons même eu le droit à un baise-main de Michou en personne. Deux heures de spectacle. Les meilleures soirées sont finalement celles qui s'improvisent !
Ps : Une paire de lunettes de soleil à remporter ça vous dit ? Ca se passe sur Facebook, sur la page de la marque Vuarnet ! On clique ici !
THEME: Follow THE BOUNCING BALL — two 13-letter answers (KARAOKE SCREEN, PING PONG TABLE) are clued as places "to follow the object named in the circled letters"—circled letters spell out THE BOUNCING BALL, and form a series of arcs that looks vaguely like the path of said ball
Word of the Day: SATRAP (52D: Minor despot) —
Satrap (Persian: ساتراپ) was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid (Persian) Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires. // The word satrap is also often used in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are heavily influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates. (wikipedia)
• • •
[It's pledge week here at the Rex Parker site (thru Sat.) —read my pitch for donations in the opening paragraphs of Sunday's write-up, here ... and thanks for your faithful readership (and the many kind messages I've received so far)]
***
This one played out like a slightly toughish Tuesday or a very easy Wednesday puzzle. Quick glance at the early times at the NYT puzzle site suggests that I wasn't alone in taking longer than usual. You don't normally see gimmick puzzles like this on a Monday, and it's possible that the gimmick (specifically, getting the bouncing ball pattern to work out), forced the fill into somewhat tougher-than-usual territory—and yet there's not really much in the way of non-Monday fill here. SATRAP, sure, and maybe ALCAN (40A: ___ Highway (route through Whitehorse, Yukon)), and maybe (depending on your purchase on popular culture) THE SIMS (49A: Computer game with virtual people). But everything else seems easy. The cluing seemed vaguer or tougher than usual. But then again I started by falling flat on my face with SERBS for SLAVS (1A: Many Eastern Europeans), which I erased after I realized that Pierre's state had to be ÉTAT at 1D: Pierre's state: Abbr. (S. DAK.) (I just ignored that "Abbr." notation, apparently). So I was way behind before I ever left the gate. But elsewhere, PICNIC ... what? Needed crosses to see AREA (11D: Outdoor eating place where you might lay a blanket). Couldn't remember SANTANA despite how massive that 1999 album was (29A: Artist whose 1999 hit "Smooth" was #1 for 12 weeks). GEEKS for TECHS (31D: Computer whizzes). No hope for IONIA on first pass (44A: Ancient Asia Minor region). Tough to get to HOG TIE from the vague clue 50D: Immobilize. SATRAP is a word I know, but certainly didn't get straight away from the clue 52D: Minor despot. All of this made for a time in the high 3s, Very high for a Monday.
[Warning: there's some profanity in here]
As for the theme, it's cute, but supremely thin (even counting the circled letters). As for KARAOKE SCREENs (odd phrase, not nearly as in-the-language as, say, KARAOKE BAR) ... do their balls bounce that way? That is, does the height of the ball change as much as it does in this grid's rendering? Just a question, not a criticism of the concept. Pics I'm seeing online feature text that changes color, not text with a bouncing ball. Never having participated in KARAOKE, I can't comment on the finer points of the tech involved. This puzzle feels a bit like editorial kissing-up, as Will Shortz is well known as a PING PONG enthusiast (not just in a rec room kind of way—he competes at a pretty high level, as I understand it). At any rate, it's nice to have a gimmick puzzle to shake things up on a Monday. Wasn't crazy about it, but it's at least far more memorable than a lot of early-week fare.
Bullets:
6A: Air passage (DUCT) — botched this one too. Had VENT.
24A: Hannibal ___, vice president under Abraham Lincoln (HAMLIN) — brain went immediately to LECTER. That's a mildly tough trivia clue. Pied piper clue deemed too remedial, Harry HAMLIN clue deemed too dated, apparently.
54A: Old-fashioned paper copies (DITTOS) — whoa, I don't think I've seen or heard that word since elementary school.
60D: WXY, on a phone (NINE) — my favorite number! And it's a telephone keypad clue?! Ted Williams is rolling over in his grave.
THEME: "The Long and the Short of It" — phrases where long "I" sound is changed to short "I" sound and vice versa, creating wacky phrases, clued wacktastically
Word of the Day: ANUBIS (46D: Jackal-headed god) —
Anubis (Ancient Greek: Ἄνουβις) is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu, (variously spelled Anup, Anpu, and Ienpw). The oldest known mention of Anubis is in the Old Kingdompyramid texts, where he is associated with the burial of the Pharaoh. At this time, Anubis was the most important god of the Dead but he was replaced during the Middle Kingdom by Osiris. [how fighting—I really wanted OSIRIS] (wikipedia)
• • •
Happy Sunday, everyone. Before we hit the puzzle, some business—I want to make a brief pitch for donations, which I haven't done in almost three years.The audience for this site continues to grow, and grow, and grow, in ways that I still find astonishing.I hope that you have found the site informative and (at least occasionally) entertaining, and that you have learned to understand and even appreciate crossword puzzles more as a result of reading (as I have, as a result of writing). [And to my solvers in syndication—those solving this puzzle the weekend of Jan. 16, 2011—don't think I don't value your readership just because you come a little late to the party: you're well over half my audience!]I love writing for you all, and I put in a good deal of time and effort (mostly during prime sleeping hours) to get it done.
As I said the last time I made a donation pitch, all I ask is that you consider what the blog is worth to you, and donate accordingly. Whatever the size of the donation, I can assure you I will be extremely grateful. There is a Paypal button in the sidebar there to your right. If you do not care to use Paypal, there's a snail mail address there that you may use as well. It is:
Rex Parker 4700 Vestal Parkway East, #279 Vestal, NY 13850-3770
If you are not in any financial position to donate, then please don't. I completely understand. Please continue to enjoy (or revile) the site, free of charge, with my compliments. This goes for people who simply don't care to donate, for whatever reason. Honestly, I'm grateful that anyone, anywhere, wants to read what I write.
And to those of you who have donated in the past—your generosity has meant a lot to me. Thank you.
OK, puzzle now...
I just hyped Patrick Berry's puzzle website yesterday, and now here he is with another NYT puzzle. Coincidence? Yes, completely.
I picked up the gimmick pretty early, but still had a good amount of trouble moving through the grid. Pleasant trouble, but trouble nonetheless. More specifically, I had two particular trouble spots—the area around the front end of ZIPPO LITTER, and the area around the back end of ZIPPO LITTER. Basically, that answer was a bear for me, and the surrounding entries weren't helping me much. I had the whole middle (i.e. "-IPPOLITT--") and still had no idea what I was dealing with. Hippolyta was an Amazon taken as a wife by Theseus ... I really wanted her to be involved somehow. But even in the rest of the grid, it was slightly slower-going than usual, due mainly to the fact that I was never sure where those ITS and IGHTS were gonna show up. Thankfully, the resulting wacky answers were mostly good. I think THEM'S FITTING WORDS! is my favorite.
Theme answers:
23A: Manic desire to make sweaters when the weekend starts? (SATURDAY KNIT FEVER) — great
32A: Contents of the Visine Gazette? (EYE WHITENESS NEWS) — I admire the preposterous clue on this one
48A: Parts of many cheerleading uniforms? (SLIGHT SKIRTS)
64A: Cleanup crew's goal? (ZIPPO LITTER)
81A: Punchophobic? (AFRAID OF HITS) — somehow briefly thought the answer was going to be AFRAID OF [Shere] HITE
94A: Company whose motto is "Our pilots are moderately intelligent? (BRIGHTISH AIRWAYS) — is "brightish" a word? I don't really care, as I love this answer
106A: "That thar was an appropriate thing to say!?" ("THEM'S FITTING WORDS") — even the clue makes me laugh. I kind of wish the "G" were dropped on this one, but even so ... gold.
16D: Cronkite when at the top of the ratings? (WALTER MIGHTY)
58D: Easily damaged major organs? (TENDER VITALS)
I would like to nominate ESTOPPEL for the Ugliest Word in the English Language (8-letter category). Nothing about it looks right. That -EL ending ... I need to invent a new word, something between "yuck" and "yipes." Yuckipes! There was probably a time when I didn't like YEANINGmuch either (looks like it desperately wants to buy an "R") (116A: Bringing forth young, as sheep), but I'm just happy that I know it now (thanks, xwords), and after all, it still looks a whole lot better than YEAN. I'd have clued ZEENA as [Tennis player Garrison], but this is because a. I know who she is, b. I'm from the '80s, and c. I can't spell (ZINA is how Ms. Garrison spells her name). Very rough to have that "Z" essentially hidden by this piece of literary arcana (64D: Ethan Frome's sickly wife). I thought [Part of a code] was LINE. Don't programmers write LINEs of code (when they're not doing LINEs of coke, of course) (you computer geeks think I don't know what goes on at your Red Bull-fueled, all-night coding parties?!). I think I was influenced by the clue on the cross: 69D: Program problem (GLITCH).
As for the other side of ZIPPO LITTER, I had AGEE instead of AMIS (61A: Author in the 1950s "angry young men" movement). Oh, and my biggest problem was "Who the hell are the SOONES!? Some phenomenally popular Christian rock band I've never heard of!?!?" Oh ... The STONES. Yeah, they're pretty famous (36D: Top-grossing concert act of 1989, '94 and '05, with "the"). Stupid nautical TAR, ugh (40A: Naval need of old). I of course had OAR (hence SOONES). Triremes and what not. I think I can go ahead and name the TAR/OAR error the "MOAPO" error, since that was what I ended up with the last time I made the error, under tournament conditions (actual answer was MT. APO). Eventually, you will make the MOAPO error, if you haven't already. I guarantee it.
Bullets:
1A: Thanksgiving staple (PIE) — wanted YAM :(
4A: "Big ___," 1995 Notorious B.I.G. hit (POPPA) — yay. He was in my last puzzle.
50A: Where brown and white meet (TAN LINE) — great clue. Stumped me.
77A: ___ Rosada (Argentine presidential manor) (CASA) — Spanish 101, so even with a relatively obscure clue, this one was easy to pick up.
102A: "Giant" in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (ANT) — there was a "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" ride or exhibit or something at Disney Hollywood Studios. As you can guess, I did not indulge. Thus, this clue = ??? to me.
1D: Sinatra portrayer on "S.N.L." (PISCOPO) — Gimme. Helped me get over my YAM fixation at 1A. Hey, look, there's another "portrayer" a little ways over—Ralph FIENNES as Voldemort (12D: Voldemort's portrayer in the Harry Potter films).
33A: Musical featuring "The Way He Makes Me Feel" ("YENTL") — my answer: "ANNIE!"
[This cites "Annie" *and* Notorious B.I.G. ... warning: some profanity]
38D: "The Government Inspector" playwright (GOGOL) — really wanted GODOT despite knowing that he is fictional, and possibly non-existent.
66D: Half-human counselor on "Star Trek: T.N.G." (TROI) — the one Trek-related character every constant solver knows (or should). She has great ... letters.
71D: Drained of blood (ASHEN) — see also 62A: "True Blood" network (HBO).
80D: Baseball Hall-of-Famer with the autobiography "Maybe I'll Pitch Forever" (PAIGE) — I highly recommend James Sturm's "Satchel PAIGE: Striking Out Jim Crow." Great example of how comics can illuminate history.
97D: Winter windshield problem (ICING) — tell me about it. My left wiper is wonky and the parts it couldn't get to kept icing up tonight and I had to drive halfway leaned over so I could look through the clear patch of glass. Not recommended, kids.
Bientôt les soldes, n'est-ce point génial ? En fait, dans certains magasins elles ont même déjà commencé, & je me suis fait plaisir chez Mango, Mim & New Yorker notamment :D. Je vous montre ça rapidement, promis !
En attendant, voici mes nouvelles résolutions pour cette année, car j'ai été taguée par mademoiselle Romantica ( qui nous propose en ce moment un super concours ! ) :D. - Perdre un peu de poids, - Faire plus régulièrement du Sport, - Manger plus équilibré, - Être régulière & consciencieuse dans mon travail, - Ne plus procrastiner, - Poster plus souvent sur mon Blogspot ( ! ), - Faire un voyage à l'étranger, - Passer le code, - Aller à de nouveaux concerts, - Garder ma chambre rangée, - & Pleins d'autres choses !
Donc comme vous l'avez vu, j'ai décidé d'être plus régulière sur ce blog, même si cela veut dire à la fois des articles moins complets, plus courts, avec seulement quelques photos & un peu de blabla n_n. On verra bien si ça le fait ou non.
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Sales are soon, can't wait ! I've already bought some stuffs that I'm gonna show you soon, I promise.
The sweet girl of Romantica asked me about my new year resolutions, so here they are : - Lose some pounds, - Do more sports, - Eat healthier, - Be regular on my homeworks, - Stop procrastinating, - Post more on my Blogspot ( ! ), - Make a trip on another country, - Start my driving lessons, - Go to new concerts, - Keep my bedroom tidied, - & Some others things !
As you saw, I said that I'll try to post more on this blog, so I will try to make more articles, even if they will be shorter and with just a few photos. Let's see if it'll works or not ^_^.
Shirt : Yves Saint-Laurent, blazer : Mango, Jeans : New Look, Black ribbon tie around the collar : Naf Naf, Shoes : Texto.
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Juste quelques mots sur cette tenue avant de filer uploader deux vidéos sur ma chaine You Tube ;'D.
Alors, un jean tout simple, de chez New Look, que j'ai depuis longtemps mais qui est toujours super. Le blazer, je ne me rappelle plus si je vous l'avais déjà montré ou pas, anyway : il vient de chez Mango, je l'ai eu en solde l'an dernier pour quelque chose comme 25 euros au lieu de 50 & j'en suis très contente, même s'il est une taille au dessus de la mienne.
Quand à la chemise, une Yves Saint Laurent basique, que j'adoooooore, vous devez bien vous en douter. Je l'ai boutonné jusqu'en haut & j'ai ajouté un ruban qui me sert de ceinture sur une robe Naf Naf, & le tour est joué ! Pour les chaussures, pas de doute, vous les avez déjà vu plusieurs fois, & je crois bien que c'est l'ultime fois où vous les voyez .. Elles sont sur le point de rendre l'âme, il me faut donc de nouvelles derbys noires .. Oui, heureusement que les soldes arrivent !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a few words about the outfit before let you go.
So, those jeans are from New Look, I bough them for a long time but they're still super.
For the blazer, I can't remember if I've already showed you it, but anyway : it is from Mango & so lovely even it's a size bigger than mine. I got it on the sales of last year for something like 25€ instead of 50, great !
The shirt is a Yves-Saint-Laurent & I love it so so much as you can imagine. I just tied a ribbon from a Naf Naf dress around the collar, & that's it !
You have already seen the shoes, but I guess that's the last time you're seeing them since they made their time, lol. I'll have to buy another pair who'd look the same, God save the sales !
P.S. : qu'est-ce que vous pensez de mettre deux photos côte à côte comme je l'ai fait sur cet article ?
P.S. : what do you thing about putting two photos side to side as I did on this article ?
Word of the Day: KOSCIUSZKO (9D: Highest mountain in Australia) —
Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia (not including its external territories). It was named by the Polish explorer Count Paul Edmund Strzelecki in 1840, in honour of the Polish-Lithuanian national hero and hero of the American Revolutionary War General Tadeusz Kościuszko, because of its perceived resemblance to the Kościuszko Mound in Krakow. // The name of the mountain was previously spelt "Mount Kosciusko", an Anglicisation, but the spelling "Mount Kosciuszko" was officially adopted in 1997 by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. [...] Various measurements of the peak originally called Kosciuszko showed it to be slightly lower than its neighbour, Mount Townsend. The names of the mountains were swapped by the New South Wales Lands Department, so that Mount Kosciuszko remains the name of the highest peak of Australia, and Mount Townsend ranks as second. [!?!?!?] (wikipedia)
• • •
So this is why I don't normally solve first thing in the morning. This took me longer than any puzzle has taken me in years (excluding a Newsday Saturday Stumper, which every once in a while I don't even bother trying to finish). Names. Just ... names. Dead in the water on the Polish Aussie mountain. I know baseball and don't remember JOSE JIMENEZ very well at all (remembered it vaguely, though, so could piece it together when the time came) (12D: He pitched a no-hitter in 1999). SHAN? No. JON? No. ZAC? No. I mean, you've got ALFIE over MILO over EBAN in the west (thankfully I'd at least heard of all those). A lot of names, is what I'm saying (23A: It lost to "Born Free" for Best Song of 1966). ROSALYN? No. (40D: Calvin's baby sitter in "Calvin and Hobbes") Had ROZALYN and then ZEE for [Jazz piece?]—that was the mistake that kept the center mostly empty til the bitter end. In the end, looking back, this is definitely a tough puzzle, but if I'd simply remembered the Major composer LISZT (37A: "Hamlet" composer) as a possibility for --S-T (me: "BISET? HOLST? No, that's not right"), I could have had a much more normal time.
Major objection to R.E.M. not being clued as an abbr. (2D: Post-retirement occurrence). It was the first answer I thought of, but I discarded it because of the non-abbr. cluing. If ELO is an abbr. (signified by "grp." in its clue, 45A: "Rocakaria!" grp.), then (non-band) R.E.M. sure as hell is.
Other danger of solving a Saturday first thing in the morning. No time for write-up. Straight to bullets.
Bullets:
10A: 1981 best seller set in Castle Rock, Me. (CUJO) — King's "On Writing" was the first book I read this new year (Great stuff) so this came easily. One of the few things that did (see also IRE, UTE, A LEG, MEME, WHA / ITCHY, MAT, ELO, YALIE (though I wavered on it a lot), EMO (22A: Dashboard Confessional's genre) ... I know that looks like a lot, but they are all small and well spread out.
14A: Midwest city in the middle of the I-70/I-71/I-75 triangle (XENIA, OHIO) — a favorite 9-letter answer of late-week constructors (or at least one I've seen before—see also ALAN ADALE, only moreso: 60A: 1902 Kentucky Derby winner that was named after a fictional character). Had RIAL for LIRA, but that "I" was enough to get me OHIO, and then I just guessed XENIA because "X" is a Roman numeral.
19A: Operculum (LID) — Oh, come on. No fan of the deliberately obtuse clue.
27A: Grammy-nominated film composer Brion (JON) — Google wants to know "Did you mean ... BRIAN?" I wish.
35A: Golfe setting (MER) — I guess Golfe (whatever that is) is on a sea somewhere. Huh.
52A: With 36-Across, school gathering equipment (TRAWL / NETS) — remedial cluing trick that fooled me for a shamefully long time.
62A: RadioShack stock (TAPE DECKS) — What year is it!?!? I had the "A" and "S" and plunked down BATTERIES.
10D: Virtuosic improvisation (CADENZA) — sounds like a piece of furniture to me, but I was able to guess it anyway.
23D: Its first word is "Congress" (AMENDMENT I) — doubted this one, as I've never heard it referred to this way, but figured it had to be right (what with that terminal "I").
21D: Place for a hanging piece (HOLSTER) — to show you how slow my brain was this morning—after considering art, I immediately thought of gun. I even imagined the gun hanging from someone's hip. . . nothing. Considered GUN RACK. Ugh.
47D: Measure associated with Leyden jars (FARAD) — If you say so. I think I had FERMI in here at one point.
29A: ___ buckle (eye surgery procedure) (SCLERAL) — Should have gotten this off the "SC-"—didn't. Needed LISZT to see CLIMAXES AT (30D: Doesn't get any higher than) to get SAX to get SCLERAL. Or SCLERAL to get SAX, I forget now.
PS do you know about Patrick Berry's puzzle website, A-Frame Puzzles? You should. He's the best crossword constructor in the business. I almost never bother with non-crossword puzzles, but his Rows Gardens are a ton of (tough) fun. There are six of them available free from his website. Have at them! (oh, and if you are an aspiring crossword constructor, you should definitely read his "Crossword Puzzle Challenges for Dummies," but we'll talk about that some other time).
Word of the Day: CENTAVO (56A: Bit of change in Cuba) —
Centavo is a Spanish and Portuguese word, derived from the Latincentum, meaning "one hundred", and the suffix -avo, meaning "portion" or "fraction". Centavo means, strictly, "one-hundredth". // It is a fractional monetary unit, used to represent one hundredth of a basic monetary unit in many countries around the world [...]. (wikipedia)
• • •
The grid is solid, with impressive wide-open spaces in the NW and SE. But there's nothing remarkable, nothing memorable—at least not in the way of fill. Here's what I don't get: why would anyone bother making a themeless At All if the grid didn't *start* with at least a couple killer, original entries. Feels like the grid *shape* was driving this one more than anything (it does look cool). Some of these entries are probably original, but none of them *feels* original, current, interesting. They're fine words and phrases all around, and there's nothing particularly unattractive about this grid. But there's not much to love, either, and precious little to comment on ... which I guess makes my job easy tonight. Perhaps I should be grateful.
I was slowish on this one because of a bad start in the NW. Got ISERE (5D: French department or a river that runs through it) and EDY (7D: Ice cream eponym) and then CREASED (15A: Iron-deficient?), but went nowhere after that. Lots of tentative entries, all of them retracted. Got going for real near the grid's center, where the wrong answer, CAP, seemed right after I got RASTA. DEBI (20A: Actress Mazar of HBO's "Entourage") was a gimme (though not from "Entourage," which I've never seen), and she got me SILENT ... something, but I couldn't tell which "part" of "carriage" was supposed to be SILENT. The "I" or the "A?" Or the "E?" Thankfully, the cross told me the answer instantly—I just (finally) ordered my books for Spring semester today, and at the top of the list was "INFERNO" (33A: Source of the line "Midway upon the road of our life I found myself within a dark wood..."). Very famous opening lines. Anyway, SLAP ON (instead of SLAM ON—36A: Apply with force) really killed my chances of seeing ARMORED CAR for a while (28D: Robber's target), but other than that, SE was comparatively easy.
Had a rough go of it in the SW, where 38D: Spade mashie (SIX IRON) was gibberish to me ... only "mashie" rattled some golf/crossword memory in my head. "Spade," however, is a detective to me, so I had no idea what was going on, and though I wanted KLAXON at 45A: Loud horn, I had no idea how that "X" could factor into the "mashie" clue so I wavered there. Very proud of plonking down CENTIVO (56A: Bit of change in Cuba)! OK , so it's CENTAVO—that's still some pretty good (if wrong) guessing. DUET was the real problem down there in the far SW (49D: Puccini's "O Mimi, tu più non torni" e.g.). I wanted ARIA (of course), and then had AVA as the [Palindromic girl] (ADA). Once I accepted that STOUTEN was a word (58A: Bulk up), I figured everything else out. The "K" in KLAXON was enough to get me TAKEN TO TASK (4D: Censured), and from there the NW was not nearly as tough as it initially seemed. SECTION ONE seems weak and arbitrary (3D: Prime seating area at sporting events, maybe), but I really like RICKETY (17A: Unstable). The "W" in SCREWS (1D: Pressure, metaphorically) / WHINE (22A: Complaint) was the last letter that went into the grid.
Bullets:
16A: Subject of 2002 Senate authorization (IRAQ WAR) — might have been a lot harder if HQS hadn't been so easy (11D: Command ctrs.).
40A: Dom Pedro's ill-fated wife (INÉS) — I got this by remembering Don Juan's mother, who is INÉZ (which is also my grandmother's name). No idea who Dom Pedro is. . . 14th-century Portuguese prince. His dad had INÉS killed because he didn't like her influence on Pedro. Does not appear that INÉS was actually his wife at the time of her murder (though Pedro claimed they were secretly married). According to wikipedia, "Legend has it that [Pedro] had Inês's body exhumed from her grave and forced the entire court to swear allegiance to their new queen by kissing the corpse's hand. She was later buried at the Monastery of Alcobaça where her coffin can still be seen, opposite Peter's so that, according to the legend, at the Last Judgment Peter and Inês can look at each other as they rise from their graves." Morbid.
2D: Overseas fabric spun from flax (IRISH LINEN) — just pieced this together from crosses. --N-N gave me the "fabric" and IRI-- gave me the "overseas" part.
9D: Indus outlet (ARABIAN SEA) — like the "in"/"out" opposition in the clue.
En ce moment, j'ai la tête dans le sac. Je bosse sur un projet qui se concrétise de plus en plus, ahhhh j'aimerais tellement vous en dire plus mais je ne peux pas. Ca fait des mois que je fais mon pauvre teasing et plus on approche du but, plus je suis impatiente.
Voilà, donc mes journées se résument à des rendez-vous Skype, à me rendre à des réunions qui durent six heures, à -entre deux rendez-vous- visiter un appart (olala on a visité des folies, croisez les doigts pour nous !) et surtout faire un travail de production puisque je me rends à Barcelone ce week-end.
On ne s'emballe pas, ni week-end en amoureux, ni shopping, ni folles soirées... Je pars bosser sur le projet en question et je pense que revenir encore moins fraîche que je ne le suis actuellement.
D'ailleurs merci à tous mes followers sur Twitter qui m'ont indiqué les bons plans là-bas (je sais que vous vous demandez pourquoi j'évoque les bons plans alors que je pars bosser. Bon bah c'est en rapport. Chut !)
Je serai donc dans l'avion demain et de retour dimanche soir, il est donc très probable que je ne poste rien d'ici lundi.
