Cooking Competitions
This one is between
Chef
and his wife Janice over the price of turkeys ...
Today veteran constructor Alan Levin dishes up four cooking contests with in the language clues that bake into 4 punny game shows by changing just a single ingredient ...
17A. Contestants must perfect a ras el hanout today on ...: THE SPICE IS RIGHT. The Price is Right. And to spice things up a bit Alan gives us today's Arabic lesson: رأس الحانوت = ras el hanout, a Middle Eastern spice blend. When I attempted to save the logo that follows I got a prompt that it existed already. Then I recalled that the watchword for The Price is Right -- "COME ON DOWN" was used as the reveal in Trent Evan's April 6, 2023 puzzle.
25A. Contestants flatten a confit de canard today on ...: PRESS YOUR DUCK. Press Your Luck. If you should happen to have a duck handy, here's a recipe for Confit de Canard (confit is French for candied). As it turns out pressed duck is actually a different dish, an Asian specialty. Here's the Bald chef's recipe for Chinese Pressed Duck.
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Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest
Across:
1. First president born after 1960: OBAMA. The 44th President of the United States.
6. Disparages: RIPS.
10. Damsonlike fruit: SLOE. SLOE (Prunus spinosa) is a species of flowering plant in the rose family native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in Basque Country. The wood is used to make walking sticks, including the Irish shillelagh.
14. Commands a crew, informally: COXES. A COXSWAIN is in charge of a crew, especially of rowing teams.
15. __ chamber: ECHO.
16. Miami team: HEAT.
17. [Theme clue]
20. Appointed: ORDAINED. In most Christian churches people are ordained to one of three positions: bishops, priests, and deacons. In the Catholic church the first two require celibacy. Deacons may be either permanent or transitional. Permanent deacons may marry, whereas a transitional deacon is temporary position for a seminarian during the last year of their formation. The following year they are ordained to the priesthood. Ordinations are performed with the Sacrament of Holy Orders. One of the many actions that take place during this rite is the laying on of hands ...
21. Come next: ENSUE. Clue 21A will ENSUE
.
22. Patient care pros: RNS. Registered nurses are on the front lines of medical care. This is what it takes to become one.
23. Brit's pal: MATE.
25. [Theme clue]
31. No longer listening, say: BORED.
33. Type of 32-Down: ALTO. Also called the English Horn. Here is a solo featuring this instrument from the second movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "New World", played by Vivian Kong ...
34. Ground-breaking tool: HOE.
35. Bibliography space saver: IBID. Today's Latin lesson: ibidem; "in the same place" -- used to indicate that a reference is from the same source as a previous reference.
36. Jet off for: FLY TO. Don't know where I'm going and when I'll get back again ...
38. River's edge: BANK.
39. Chaney of old horror films: LON. Scary looking guy ...
40. Reunion invitee: ALUM.
41. Put out, as a flame: DOUSE.
42. [Theme clue]
46. Fade: WANE.
47. Ocasek of the Cars: RIC. The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), and David Robinson (drums). Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal songwriter and leader. Here's Just what I needed ...
Across:
1. First president born after 1960: OBAMA. The 44th President of the United States.
|
|
President Barack Obama |
10. Damsonlike fruit: SLOE. SLOE (Prunus spinosa) is a species of flowering plant in the rose family native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in Basque Country. The wood is used to make walking sticks, including the Irish shillelagh.
 |
| Sloe berries a.k.a. "Blackthorn" |
 |
| The coxswain of this sculling boat is in the stern |
16. Miami team: HEAT.
17. [Theme clue]
20. Appointed: ORDAINED. In most Christian churches people are ordained to one of three positions: bishops, priests, and deacons. In the Catholic church the first two require celibacy. Deacons may be either permanent or transitional. Permanent deacons may marry, whereas a transitional deacon is temporary position for a seminarian during the last year of their formation. The following year they are ordained to the priesthood. Ordinations are performed with the Sacrament of Holy Orders. One of the many actions that take place during this rite is the laying on of hands ...
|
|
The Laying on of Hands |
.
22. Patient care pros: RNS. Registered nurses are on the front lines of medical care. This is what it takes to become one.
25. [Theme clue]
31. No longer listening, say: BORED.
33. Type of 32-Down: ALTO. Also called the English Horn. Here is a solo featuring this instrument from the second movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "New World", played by Vivian Kong ...
34. Ground-breaking tool: HOE.
35. Bibliography space saver: IBID. Today's Latin lesson: ibidem; "in the same place" -- used to indicate that a reference is from the same source as a previous reference.
36. Jet off for: FLY TO. Don't know where I'm going and when I'll get back again ...
38. River's edge: BANK.
39. Chaney of old horror films: LON. Scary looking guy ...
 |
| Lon Chaney Jr. |
41. Put out, as a flame: DOUSE.
42. [Theme clue]
46. Fade: WANE.
47. Ocasek of the Cars: RIC. The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), and David Robinson (drums). Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal songwriter and leader. Here's Just what I needed ...
48. "Being the Ricardos" role for Bardem: ARNAZ. Being the Ricardos
is a 2021 American biographical drama film written and directed by
Aaron Sorkin, about the relationship between I Love Lucy stars Lucille
Ball and Desi Arnaz. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem star as Ball and
Arnaz. Kidman received an Oscar for Best Actress that year. Hand up if you've seen it?
51. Locals at the 2016 Summer Olympics: CARIOCAS. A Saturday level clue that you could only hope to get with perps. I didn't. The term is a demonym used to refer to anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The original meaning of the term is controversial.
56. [Theme clue]
59. Yacht wood: TEAK.
60. Sammy with 609 homers: SOSA.
61. Bert's bestie: ERNIE. Bert and Ernie go fishing ...
62. __ a one: NARY.
63. Power unit: WATT.
64. Title pages?: DEEDS.
Down:
1. Pod prefix: OCTO. More Latin (or Ancient Greek: "ὀκτώ • (oktṓ)"): EIGHT. One of the many definitions for the clue "pod" is "foot", so that in this case it refers to that remarkable, highly intelligent creature, the octopus, a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda.
2. Physicist played by Branagh in "Oppenheimer": BOHR. Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh's casting in this role was criticized by some Danes, as Niels BOHR was Danish -- but director Christopher Nolan defended it on personal grounds.
51. Locals at the 2016 Summer Olympics: CARIOCAS. A Saturday level clue that you could only hope to get with perps. I didn't. The term is a demonym used to refer to anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The original meaning of the term is controversial.
56. [Theme clue]
59. Yacht wood: TEAK.
60. Sammy with 609 homers: SOSA.
61. Bert's bestie: ERNIE. Bert and Ernie go fishing ...
62. __ a one: NARY.
63. Power unit: WATT.
64. Title pages?: DEEDS.
Down:
1. Pod prefix: OCTO. More Latin (or Ancient Greek: "ὀκτώ • (oktṓ)"): EIGHT. One of the many definitions for the clue "pod" is "foot", so that in this case it refers to that remarkable, highly intelligent creature, the octopus, a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda.
2. Physicist played by Branagh in "Oppenheimer": BOHR. Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh's casting in this role was criticized by some Danes, as Niels BOHR was Danish -- but director Christopher Nolan defended it on personal grounds.
As to Bohr himself, his groundbreaking work on atomic theory and quantum mechanics in the first quarter of the 20th Century not only gained him a Nobel Prize, but made the atomic bomb possible. He was in fact a hero to J. R. Oppenheimer.
|
|
Niels Bohr |
4. Flat-topped hill: MESA. Today's Spanish lesson: "mesa" = table. A mesa is a flat-topped mountain or hill. It is a wide, flat, elevated landform with steep sides. Spanish explorers of the American southwest, where many mesas are found, used the word because the tops of mesas look like the tops of tables. Not to be confused with buttes and plateaus ...
 |
| Plateau, butte, and Mesa |
6. Playground time: RECESS.
7. Like some tea: ICED.
8. Greek letter that sounds like "fie": PHI. Among the many uses for this letter, it represents the wave function in quantum mechanics which was developed by Erwin Schrödinger, a colleague of Niels Bohr (see 2D).
|
| Phi |
10. Buffed: SHINED.
11. Bench supports: LEGS. Or the "tears of wine" running down the sides of a glass. A CSO to MOE.
12. Island called "The Gathering Place": OAHU. The Hawaiian Islands and their nicknames, explained.
13. Pal follower: ETTE. This can be either a flat surface that an artist uses to mix paints, or the range of colors in a painting, e.g.
18. Stagecoach stopovers: INNS.
19. Evocative of the past: RETRO.
23. Lose a layer: MOLT. As they get bigger, 38Ds do this
24. Self-: AUTO.
25. Museum gift shop purchase: PRINT. Like this one ...
|
|
Irises Vincent van Gogh May 1889 |
27. "I'm the best!": YAY ME. The crossword antonym to I TRY.
28. Relocation rental: UHAUL. U-Haul Holding Company is an American moving truck, trailer, and self-storage rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Carty in Ridgefield, Washington, who began it in a garage owned by Carty's family, and expanded it through franchising with gas stations.
30. Palmer of "Nope": KEKE. NOPE (stylized in all caps) is a 2022 American neo-Western science fiction horror film written, directed, and produced by Jordan Peele. It stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as horse-wrangling siblings attempting to capture evidence of an unidentified flying object in Agua Dulce, California. Hand up if you've ever been there? Two hands up if you saw any UFOs? 😀
_poster.jpg)
31. Tab: BILL. For some reason people always expect me to pick this
up. 😀
32. Bassoon cousin: OBOE. Here is Valerie Xu playing an excerpt from the OBOE solo in Richard Strauss's tone poem Don Juan ...
36. Dessert made in a ramekin: FLAN. Here's a recipe for an easy to make Spanish Flan.
37. Gospel that includes the parable of the Prodigal Son: LUKE. Two sons figure in this parable: the prodigal son and the faithful son. When we visited Lourdes in 1999 there were giant posters of this famous painting by Rembrandt all around the grotto, inviting people back to the Church. I accepted the invitation.
|
|
Return of the Prodigal Son The faithful son can be seen in the background, just above the father's left shoulder. He is not happy about the prodigal son's return. |
38. Pet snake, perhaps: BOA. Eventually they get very big ...
 |
| Pet boa |
41. Returned a verdict: DECIDED.
43. Like a penthouse: SWANKY.
44. Palestinian leader who shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize: ARAFAT. The Nobel Peace Prize 1994 was awarded jointly to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East". Here's the Nobel Prize Committee press release.
45. Swampy earth: MIRE.
49. Emmy nominee Seehorn: RHEA. Presumably named for Rhea a mother goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Titan daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, himself a son of Gaia.
|
|
Rhea |
51. Dermatological complaint: CYST. A cyst is a small pocket of tissue often filled with fluid or pus. It can occur due to an injury, infection, or other issues. They’re usually benign but may need treatment for complications.
52. Scary character: OGRE. See 39A.
53. Peppermint shape: CANE.
54. During: AMID.
55. Realizes: SEES.
57. OH-to-OK heading: WSW. Oklahoma is West South West of Ohio.
 |
| 14 hr 27 min (972.5 mi) via I-70 W and I-44 W |
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
39 comments:
The way I got “Cariocan” was through ESP. Same for “Keke.” (Although I do happen to know a lady with that nickname.) But once I got the first themed answer, I understood the gimmick, and that made the rest of the puzzle easier to solve. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Yay, no reveal to miss -- I didn't miss it. Visited Rio back in the day, but never heard the term "Cariocan." Perps to the rescue. Thanx for the food adventure, Alan, and for the well-researched expo, waseeley and Teri.
The "lake" in my woodlot has finally evaporated after providing a birthplace for a humongous brood of mosquitoes. But no worries, we're expecting 2+ inches of rain later today to replenish the lake.
Good morning.
That would be my definition of an older era Thursday puzzle.
Cariocas and Keke were perped. Never heard of either. Know of Kiki Dee. ("I Got the Music In Me")
Thank you, Alan Levin, and thank you waseeley.
FIR, but erased et al for IBID, okra for OCTO, and arnez for ARNAZ (UNTIE!)
Today is:
NATIONAL COQUILLES SAINT JACQUES DAY (what in the wide, wide world of sports is a’goin on here? Scallops in a creamy wine sauce, covered with breadcrumbs and cheese, then browned under a broiler)
NATIONAL MIMOSA DAY (really handy when you’re too hung over to make bloody marys)
NATIONAL DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR DAY (we used to do this back in the good old days)
NATIONAL CLASSIC MOVIE DAY (wonder if Gone With the Wind is gone with the wind)
NATIONAL BARBECUE DAY (my favorite is Mission BBQ, a chain that supports military and first responders. Every day at noon, all stores stop what they are doing and ask customers to stand while they play our National Anthem)
NATIONAL PIERCING DAY (ever ask a young waitress with many visible piercings if she has any that don’t show? Me neither)
NATIONAL BIOGRAPHER’S DAY (I’d rather just fade away)
NATIONAL LOVE A TREE DAY (they sequester CO2 while alive, then provide cooking fuel after their time has passed)
NATIONAL SEA MONKEY DAY (launched after the success of ant farms. One of the few comic book come-ons I was able to resist)
HONOR (honour for C-Eh) OUR LGBT ELDERS DAY (how ‘bout “honor ALL our elders day”)
Had to think about price->SPICE. The others are single-letter substitution. Also don't know PRESS YOUR lUCK, but I knew the rest.
The late Jimmy Buffett did a takeoff on Monte Hall's classic show with his whimsical Door Number Three.
Thanks to Alan for the fun Thursday special, and to Bill 'n' Teri for another clever tour.
TTP - I'll bet KIKI is more famous for her duet with Sir Elton John, Don't Go Breaking My Heart.
FIR. This would have been a typical Thursday puzzle were it not for Keke and Cariocas? Those are tough even in a Saturday puzzle.
The theme was clever and the perps took care of the hard parts. If not for that this would have been a non finish effort.
Overall, just a blah puzzle.
1A. Who was the 2nd president born after 1960? Duh! There isn't one.
If it's a game show themed puzzle, Press You Luck is a show I've never heard of. And DUCK didn't come easily because 'confit de canard', "Nope", and KEKE were all unknowns. The rest was easy to fill, with unknown proper names easily guessed or filled by perps. BOHR, ARNAZ, RHEA, & KEKE. 'Damsonlike fruit'- SLOE fit nicely with OAHU in place. CARIOCAS was 100% perps.
Technically, a MESA is not a hill. It is the remains of a flat plain. The younger top layer is comprised of harder rock and is more resistant to erosion than the lower strata.
Amusing theme that was easy to Suss after the first one which -like SG said - sped the solve along
KEKE Palmer is generally known as an actress in film and tV - but I have recently seen her as the host of the primetime revival of the talk show "Password"
I thought "Being the Ricardos" was well done- Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame was the writer/director and he rarely disappoints. Nicole Kidman was nominated for an Oscar but only won the Golden Globe for lead actress in a drama.
Thanks Bill & Teri for the interesting blog and to Alan for the puzzle!
Keke Palmer is host of the gameshow Password.
She is funny, intelligent, and a great host.
I love her style.
A fun puzzle for “foodies” and a Thursday worthy offering from Alan Levin.
….. kkFlorida
Took 9:20 today for me to be a contestant.
I knew today's actresses (Keke - from Password, just as inanehiker says; and, Rhea - solely from prior crossword/crossnames).
Cariocas? I felt confident the 2016 Olympic games were in Rio, but man, that took just about every perp to get. Otherwise, I think I passed today's foreign language lessons (phi & mate).
Thanks, Bill & Teri (although it seems as if the Danes have something against Shakespearean actors...).
Anonymous @8:04 AM The Danes definitely have something against Shakespeare for all the bad PR. And the Scots too!
Counted 8 proper names knew 2.
27 down 's clue "I'm the best" it's answer "yay me" was unusual. Perhaps yea me but not "yay" Didn't get the clue "self-" answer "auto" also never heard of octopod.
Disney once had a bird character named "Joe CARIOCA"
The clue for 39A may refer to LON Chaney, "The Man of a Thousand Faces," father of the pictured Junior, who was born Creighton Tull Chaney. Both played roles with lots of makeup (Quasimodo for the father, Wolfman for the son) among many others
Good Morning! Quite a challenging Thursday puzzle. Thanks, Alan.
I did see the theme, no circles needed! I’ve, at one time or another, watched these game shows except for Press Your Luck.
WO: I took a different route on my way to Oklahoma: SSW – WSW.
Lots of WAGs that worked out in my favor, total luck in getting to the finish line.
Thanks, Bill & Teri for ‘splaining it all.
FIR to my surprise. 1across was a gimme. Fun theme that I got on the second long answer since the DUCK easily showed up. My sister and my mother were both very fond of confit de canard. Not I however. But I had to guess the show’s title since I had never heard of PRESS YOUR lUCK.
Like most other posters CARIOCAS and KEKE had to be perpped.
I had fun working on this CW.
My grand niece’s instrument is the bassoon.
Thank you Waseely for all the info and links.
Good Morning:
This was a cute play on words but, as often happens, getting from Point A to Point B involves some labored, if not tortured, cluing. The most fitting and clever C/A, IMO, was the one for Press Your Duck, even though I've never heard of the game show, Press Your Luck. Cariocas was perp dependent and Auto and Lette were on the cusp of vagueness for a while. Props for the minimal (10) TLWs.
Thanks, Alan, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Bill and Teri, for the many learning moments and musical interludes. I know nothing about Dr. Who, other than what I've gleaned from CWs, but I enjoyed the Van Gogh video very much. I know only slightly more about Bert and Ernie, except that they're pals. (Sans lettes!) I haven't seen Being The Ricardos nor Nope and I'd be happy to have not seen that Boa! John Denver is always a welcome guest, though.
Have a great day.
Arabic! I thought ras el hanout was a place on the sic-fi planet Dune! So, spice would be right there also. Ditto on the Dr Who episode and the art world would not be the same if van Gogh never existed. Really liked the puzzle sans proper nouns and names.
Musings
-Learning for me today: COX can be a verb, PALETTE has two “T’s”, Cariocas and Rio, KEKE, ramekin,
-It can be very lonely if you are outside the ECHO chamber
-Lou asks Bud, “Who’s on first?” and hilarity ENSUES
-The RN’S for my MIL during her last years of dementia remain my heroes
-I tried to pick up on the cues that my students were BORED and changed gears
-Nebraska golf courses on the BANKS of the Platte, Loup, Elkhorn, et al. were severely damaged by the floods of 2019
-Every science teacher has taught the BOHR model of the atom
-Recent coaches got AXED but received multi-million-dollar buyouts
-I've told the story at least two times of getting bitten by a 110 lb. BOA
-Lovely, informative write-up Bill and Teri.
-FORE!
The four ersatz game shows in this puzzle provided a humorous theme framework for the rest.
We always talk about perps helping out. Well, it occurred to me that when one of the mountains on the Big Island is clued (as in 58 D), some perps are an absolutely necessity for the first two letters. It's either LOa or KEa.
Sammy Sosa provided the O for LOA. Just to the right of SOSA is ERNIE. It would have been interesting if that was Ernie Banks, one of the most beloved Chicago Cubs--right next to one of the most reviled, Sosa.
Some proper names, such as KEKE, RHEA, and RIC slowed me down a bit, but not enoigh to keep me from a FIR.
Thanks, Alan, for an amusing Thursday-appropriate puzzle. Come visit us again.
Tough but fair (thank you, perps!) outing this morning. WEES on the ESP entries, but an enjoyable feeling of accomplishment when the FIR arrived. Seemed more like an "old school" offering to me.
Loved this puzzle! Informative, interesting review, waseeley and Teri! You, and all our reviewers, must spend hours preparing these blog reports, of which I am grateful. I caught on to the twist at THE SPICE IS RIGHT and thought LETS MAKE A veal instead of MEAL. KEKE just filled in and so did CARIOCAS.
PHI is pronounced “fee” instead of “fi” when it is preceded by a vowel. Alpha PHI, Beta Iota.
The poignant Dvorak piece became known as “Going Home” in the movie “The Snake Pit”, a ground breaking subject for film about mental illness and hospitalization. . The music won an academy award and star Olivia DeHavilland was nominated as Best Actress.
Happy day,all!
Without further ado;
a cooking game show, ALA Key and Peele...
(Warning, it might be both extreme, and Meh...)
A PSA, trivial rant:
DesperOttos post about mosquitos reminded me of yesterdays YouTube commercial I saw.
It's getting to the point, where I refuse to watch a 14 second commercial ad, to see a 14 second YouTube video, that was about a stupid 14 second Ad to begin with! However, there was something about this ad I saw that made me keep watching. It was 3 minutes long, and was about this teenage kid that made a revolutionary new mosquito zapping device, that you have to empty every day, because it will be full of mosquitos!
Anywho,
I would normally be resistant to this sort of thing, but DesperOttos desperate plea made me research this new gizmo...
YouTube reveals it is a new wonder weapon!
(Sounds reasonable, but I couldn't find a price...)
So I tried to order one.
The website just smelled like a bait and switch, and you had to go thru hoops just to find out how much it cost, after discount after rebate after last minute sale, I still don't know how much the dang thingie costs...
I thought to myself, "something smells more like a dead rat than dead mosquitos here," so I went to the internet for unbiased reviews.
There, I found out it was a total ripoff. (But a good one if it got my attention...)
If anyone out there has a better mousetrap that work in mosquitos, please tell!
I kept looking for a clear pattern to the theme, but I see it was a bit more subtle. Amusing. Never heard of PRESS YOUR LUCK and it seems no one else here does, either. But knowing the other GAME shows helped with the solve.
But I did remember CARIOCAS from my time in Brazil.
Here I celebrated Carnival in Rio with a few other CARIOCAS.
From Yesterday:
AnonT Thanks for the shout out.
Misty Please do share photos of your tortoise. And more about the tortoise. I am surprised that lettuce leaves are enough food. They have very little nutritional value. Anything else for food? How did you come to have the tortoise? They are tightly regulated these days.
I loved, loved this theme! Easier for me than the Wed. and Thur. puzzles. Perps were kind. DNF. I made one bonehead mistake. I knew 57D was either SSW or WSW. I chose SSW and didn't change it when I couldn't get the game show. Tsk, tsk. I have watched the Newlywed Game along with all the others. Now I stick to Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
I rue discarding my ramekins along with 70% of my kitchenware when I downsized. I miss the many kitchen cupboards and their contents, including many appliances, in my former condo. Some people here never, ever cook. I cook on weekends for Alan, birthdays and holidays, house parties, goodies for square dance, church and floor meetings. OTH, i am glad I don't need to come up with three squares a day. We have truly independent living here. Whatever floats your boat.
On May 9 the Oaks offered a trip to Presby Iris gardens near here, one of my favorites places. It was on Alan's birthday so I declined. The irises had not bloomed yet, so I didn't miss much.
Remember Tab, a diet soft drink? Years ago a fellow diner ordered Tab and the waitress brought the check instead.
CED @11:20 AM In some ways that clip is a parody of Sir Lenny Henry's Chef, with the difference that he never compliments anybody for anything!
Needless to say, I loved this game show casserole. It wasn’t that easy. I had to erase “The Spice Islands” and didn’t figure out the theme until LET’S MAKE A MEAL, but that’s because the clues were just clever enough (except for those who didn’t know a canard is a duck).
Oddly enough, none of the four quiz shows referenced is/are my kind of quiz show, although I was strangely proficient at “The Price Is Right” when I was about 6 and Bill Cullen was host. Of the four, only “Press Your Luck” has trivia questions, and that show’s format for actually winning anything is too random for my tastes. I say “is,” because there is a current version of this 1980s show. I never saw it in the day, but there are reruns on the quiz show reruns network BUZZR.
Names I knew: OBAMA, HEAT, LON, ARNAZ, RHEA, SOSA, ERNIE, BOHR, RIC Ocasek, KEKE, LUKE (with perps), ERNIE, OAHU AND Mauna LOA, and, last but not least, CARIOCAS. Names I didn’t know: none.
Bravo, Alan, and thanks, Bill and Teri.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun Alan, and waseeley and Teri.
I FIRed and saw the name change theme early.
Several inkblots.
E changed to the second A in ARNAZ.
Delivered was too long for the verdict rendering. DECIDED fit. Not the legal term.
CARIOCAS perped. Thanks for explaining , waseeley.
We used to get DinETTE not PalETTE.
I had to think about that “Self- = AUTO” answer. AUTOmatic as in Self-operating explains it for me.
My brain took a while to think of peppermint shape as a candyCANE. I was visualizing a round or oval peppermint lozenge
Read you all later. I’m going outside to garden on this beautiful day.
Wishing you all a great day.
Hola!
What a fun outing from Alan Levin. OBAMA was an easy start and at first COXES eluded me but then I thought it must be related to COXSWAIN which I know from extensive reading.
KEKE reminded me of the aforementioned KIKI DEE. Many years ago in one of my exercise classes or maybe my short-lived dancing class, our instructor used that recording by Elton John and KIKI DEE, Don't Go Breaking my Heart which is seared in my brain.
RHEA was the name of a long ago vice-principal I knew. She and our principal started an affair which caused a scandal because they tried to hide it and sneaked around. They later married.
MOLT as clued makes no sense to me and I have no idea what "damsonlike" is but SLOE perped.
FlAN is a delicious dessert which I haven't made in years and likely won't because it has such a heavy concentration of sugar.
Have a fantastic day, everyone! d-otto, please be careful around those mosquitoes! I would likely already be hospitalized as I am extremely allergic to their bite.
Yellowrocks:
That is really funny about the TAB incident!
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with my only correction was changing a W in DOWSE to a U (DOUSE). UHAWL is phonetically OK I suppose
Thanks to Alan, Teri, and Bill
Today is a watch the first round of the PGA day
What he said - Thanks to Alan, Teri, and Bill
To clarify, PHI is pronounced “Fee” instead of “Fie” when it is preceded by a letter vowel (Eta, Iota, Upsilon, Alpha, Epsilon, Omicron, Omega).
I got a feeling of satisfaction upon solving this puzzle. I haven't had that feeling for a long time. My hand stayed down by my side at all three of the "hand up if you've seen this/been there" scenarios waseeley posited in his write-up.
Let's see if there are any things in this puzzle I disliked...
COXES as a verb.
I didn't know if that reunion invitee would be ALUM or AUNT. RICKY had to be changed to ARNAZ and SHED had to be changed to MOLT. Not being intimately familiar with the details of each Gospel, I had to wait for at least one perp to reveal whether it was MARK, LUKE, or JOHN.
I confess to not knowing the names RIC (which I think we've had before but I forgot) and KEKE. I did know all the other names, though. So, basically a minimum of guesswork.
Eight perps and I owned CARIOCAS.
I scratched my head a little bit trying to see Appointed and ORDAINED as being the same thing.
I used to be a member of a fraternity call PHI Alpha. I am also a member of PHI Beta Kappa; I'm sure my pin is stashed in a dresser drawer somewhere.
I rather like the word SWANKY.
I just wrote 6 sentences starting with the word "I". (7 now.) Sorry about that.
It's really good reading all your comments.
Hi All!
Not having a clue what the clues for 17a and 25a event meant, meant it took a long time for the penny to drop.
But, once it did, (at 17a (after copious WAGs on the perps)), the rest of the themers fell into place and the puzzle was done.
Thanks Alan for a punny puzzle - been a while since we've had a puzzle this fun.
Thanks waseeley for the expo (including The Cars' Ric).
WOs: N/A
ESPs: KEKE, CARIOCAS
Fav: NARY is a fun word.
Nice snap, Picard.
CED - That K&P sketch is such a roller coaster ride.
Cheers, -T
AnonT Thank you for the kind words about my CARIOCAS photo! Most of them are very nice, except for the few who are trying to rob you violently.
Since you mentioned the CONFIT DE CANARD clue, you prompted me to dig out a photo. I remember eating this dish in Quebec back in 2010.
Here I was dining on CONFIT DE CANARD in Quebec.
I included a photo of the restaurant: "Restaurant of Old Canadians".
Additional note: Glad to see OCTOPOD. Perhaps a shout out after my rants about the plural of this sea creature.
Thanks to Alan for his clever twists on game show names! It was easy to clock the gimmick but that did not mean the themers came automatically. I had to peck away at each one. One-box FIW at OsTO.
Hand up for a CARIOCAS learning moment.
You can find the coolest stuff in museum gift shops.
Thanks to waseeley for his helpful write-up! I'm always up for some John Denver or anything off of The Cars' first album.
FLN: AnonT. Misty's turtle, Gophie, is named for its species: Gopherus Agassizzi. Clever, huh?!
Picard - you ate Aux Anciens Canadiens! I have eaten there too (no photos of the food, sadly). And I’m not an Old Canadian as referenced in that name LOL,
Misty’s turtle belonged to her late husband and is quite old (and expected to outlive them both). I’ll remind her to give more info as she hasn’t done that recently.
Picard, as CanadianEh! mentioned, my sweet late husband Rowland acquired our tortoise Gophie when he was 22 years old, and we sadly lost him in 2015 at the age of 81. So he would have had Gophie for almost 60 years and that would make her around 70 or so by now. I used to add small pieces of tomatoes and other small vegetable pieces to the lettuce, but she slowly stopped eating some of the vegetables a few years ago, and lately I even stopped putting the small tomatoes on her lettuce because she just wasn't eating them any more. But she still finishes all of her lettuce. Maybe I'll try some of the other vegetable pieces again in the next weeks, just to see if she'll try them again.
I no longer take pictures and wouldn't know how to post them on the computer. My son will visit me for Thanksgiving, and I'll ask him to take some pictures of Gophie and then have him help me figure out how to post them on my computer. If I get any pictures of her before than, I'll try to remember to post them. Gotta go, but thanks for your questions.
I thought it was a great puzzle! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
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