CONTENTS MAY HAVE SETTLED
AFTER PACKAGING
Van Halen, Dead or Alive, Lyric at 1:15
I struggled with this one - while Stella masterfully gives us four theme fills that are all unique crossword entries, and none of the usual Wednesday construction attributes we usually see - bigger grids, circles, a plethora of names - I stumbled in the west, had to do an alphabet run to get the "red square" you see in the completed puzzle grid at the end of the blog, and the effort was not rewarding, IMHO - a bit of a let down, rather than a clever or funny theme. Sigh. The themers;
20. Leg day exercises performed while holding dumbbells: SUITCASE LUNGES
54. Therapist's statement, or what can be said about the first parts of 20-, 28-, and 46-Across?:
LET'S UNPACK THAT - I've heard the phrase, but I must be getting "brittle" as I age because I don't care for this "euphemism", as it were - nor do I care for 21st century-speak buzzords like "circle back" and the rest on this list - when one steps back from them, they do have a cringe factor
And Away We Go~!
1. Cloth that protects waves: DURAG - A "do" rag - this thing - that is more likely to be seen on a rapper's head than a "permanent wave"
6. Jazz pattern: RIFF - the master of the heavy metal riff - Tony Iommi
How the Black Sabbath ( and Heavy metal ) sound was born
14. Native people of Missouri: OSAGE
15. Campaign for Smart Justice org.: ACLU
16. Córdoba coin: EURO - Dah~! I always think "PESO", and even that's not right - peseta is better
17. Sired, biblically: BEGAT - there was a LOT of "begatting" in the Bible
18. "You __ me?": "FEEL~?"
19. Marching insects: ANTS
23. "Uh-uh": NAH
24. "¿__ te llamas?": "COMO~?" - I am IRON MAN~!
25. Pipe material, for short: PVC - actually stumped me - but then again, I don't work with "those" pipes any more . . . . PolyVinyl Chloride - the Wiki
33. "So cool!": "OOH~!"
34. Marvel's God of Mischief: LOKI - learned by doing crosswords, not from the movies
35. Breakfast or brunch: MEAL - I had breakfast with my brother on Saturday, which means I got to visit with my buddy Cooper again~! I'm still looking for my four-legged friend 😞
Cooper~!
39. This __ up: END
41. Natural fence: HEDGE - if there's a bustle in your hedgerow....
42. Seize: TAKE
43. Not here anymore: GONE
45. In the style of: À LA
50. Homer's wholesome neighbor: NED
PFFFT - Flanders
52. Not trans: CIS
61. Skip over: OMIT
62. __ bean: FAVA - Dah~! not LIMA
63. Nest on a cliff: AERIE - crossword word - AND - 32. 63-Across nester: EAGLE
65. Santa Monica landmark: PIER - filled via perps
66. "That true?": "IS IT~?
67. Itty-bitty: TEENY
68. Site with handmade stock: ETSY
69. Crop-sharing orgs.: CSAs - also a unique crossword fill, but I had no clue; Community Supported Agriculture - the USDA website
70. Wipe data from: ERASE
DOWN:
1. Passport info, briefly: DOB - I do not have a passport, so I went with SSN - bzzzt~!
2. Avails oneself of: USES - the verb, not the noun
3. Rao's rival: RAGU - stumped; it was only after I had R A G _ that I WAGed the "U"
5. Not beyond one's solving skills: GETTABLE - I found a few clues "non-gettable" for Wed.
6. Nadal's nickname: RAFA - I thought it was "RAFI", so that didn't help ( I blogged Sunday, before the Monday puzzle and write-up posted )
7. Coats with frosting: ICES - I started typing "RIMES", but it's not THAT frosting
9. Stuffed with: FULL OF - e.g., BEANS
10. "When you're not strong" song: LEAN ON ME - a song that was #1 twice from two different artists - the Wiki
11. Like operas and oratorios: SUNG
12. Opere e oratori: ARTE - I did like the redundant, albeit foreign, cluing
13. Chuck: TOSS - the verb, not the Texas Ranger
Get it~?
25. Drop in the mail: POST - not SEND, so this slowed me down in the west
26. Language learner's topic, for short: VOCAB - yeah, but meh
27. R&B singer Khan: CHAKA - now this I did know; name # - oh wait, never mind . . . 😜
29. Classic Jaguar model: XKE - the official model name of the "E-Type"
Gorgeous - the Wiki
31. Car rental option: SEDAN
36. Head up: LEAD
38. Wedding couple's wish list: REGISTRY - my brother & fiancée have set the date - July 12th
40. Get into: DON - Dah~! Not DIG - this is the actual get into, as in clothing . . . .
44. Violin or guitar section: NECK - section~? Meh; PART, more better-er. I'm starting a Black Sabbath cover band
My latest acquisition - a Gibson SG - I'm a lefty, like Tony Iommi
48. Genre with unofficial sequels, familiarly: FANFIC - Ugh. Meh. Period. The Wiki
49. Skip over: BYPASS
53. See-through: SHEER
They're for "bloggers"
54. Easy running pace: LOPE55. Give off: EMIT
56. Draw scores: TIES
57. Nike rival: AVIA
58. Sphynx and Siamese: CATS
60. Sardine containers: TINS
64. Organ with a retina: EYE - a long way to go for a 3LW
Splynter
44 comments:
A combination of
Spanish and Japanese may be similar to a Natick, but most of the rest of the puzzle was quite gettable, so I have few complaints. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Stella! Is it really only Wednesday? Today we had lima/FAVA, send/POST, grab/TAKE, peso/EURO, trot/LOPE -- it turned into a Wite-Out workout. D-o learned that ¿Cómo te llamas? doesn't mean "How are your llamas?" And the football BOX DEFENSE is a whole new take on a "tackle box." If this one is any indication, I'm really dreading Saturday. Thanx, Stella and Splynter.
FIW, missing both WAGs @ FANcIf x cAVA & fSAS. Thought about FAVA, but thought cAVA was a bean too. Turns out it's a restaurant. And I've always used "co-ops" for crop-sharing groups.
You FEEL me? Well, I usually buy a couple of drinks and engage in some small talk first, but if you insist...
DNK LOKI in movies, just as an (Ektorp) Norse god.
LEAN ON ME required a little mental singing. The world is thankful it didn't require me to sing out loud.
I knew Jimmy CHOO. Can someone post the address where I surrender my man card?
I knew that OSU was in Columbus partly from the movie Goodby Columbus, but more from the National Lampoon's spoof Oh Boy, Columbus.
Thanks, I guess, to Stella for the challenge. I really liked "violin or guitar section" for NECK. But I don't think many folks except gym rats know SUITCASE LUNGE, and I really dislike clues like "uh-uh." And I'm thinking that the football BOX DEFENSE (sorry, C-Eh, we know it should be "defence") must have something to do with soccer. Splynter's picture shows the offensive boxes that determine things like intentional grounding in real football. In basketball, there was an old "2-2 zone with a chaser" defense that looked like a box, but that's gone the way of the two-handed set shot. And thanks to Splynter for the interesting and candid review.
A bit crunchy in the northwest. I didn’t know any of the themers and perps did all the work.
It was a fun; yet irritating puzzle. My white-out is exhausted from all the exercise it got today.
On a side note there is a new season of Bosch Legacy and we binged watched all 4 episodes last night.
Took 8:53 today to let sun pack that.
Oh, let's unpack that.
I'm sure she's a lovely person, but I don't usually care for Stella Z.'s puzzles. I didn't notice her name before doing the puzzle. Just too much squeeze, and not enough juice.
I wish there were better intersections than the Japanese plum crossing a Spanish sentence and "arte" crossing a foreign currency.
I don't think I have ever heard "box defense" as a football thing. I know of the "tackle box" (the non-fishing kind), and references to the "box", but not "box defense." In basketball and lacrosse, I've heard of "box and one" defense. Can anyone explain what a football "box defense" is? Is it the soccer version of football?
Difficult puzzle today. I didn't know fanfic or CSAs. That and having I SEE instead of I SAY made TX a big muddle. DNF .
I see that this sense of unpack has been around since the early 20th century. It didn't seem new to me.
Jimmy Choo shoes? I can think of better uses for $895.
I knew durag. AI says, "A durag, a close-fitting cloth tied around the head, is used to protect and style hair, especially for those with curly or textured hair, by keeping it neat and preventing tangles and breakage, as well as preserving waves and braids." We have a multicultural staff here, but the residents, except for three or so, are white. We would gladly accept others and are trying to recruit them without much success.
I like umeshu. "Umeshu (梅酒) is a Japanese liqueur made by steeping ume plums (while still unripe and green) in liquor (焼酎, shōchū) and sugar. It has a sweet, sour taste, and an alcohol content of 10–15%." You sip it like a liqueur. We buy it, but once my DIL made some herself.
Stella's puzzles are always tough and this was no exception. It was a DNF due to the cross of FANFIC and CSAS- never heard of either and an ABC run did nothing to help me. AVIA caused LIMA to morph to FAVA but it didn't help.
I've heard of BURPEES but not SUITCASE LUNGES. I've never heard of a "BOX" DEFENSE. I've never heard the term "LET'S UNPACK THAT. Thanks to perps I got them.
I thought DURAG was spelled DO-RAG.
CIS, trans, and all the other BS classifications. How about M&F.
BIG EASY, reading your take on CIS, I am biting my tongue in order to preserve congeniality on the Corner. Is it fair to hear only one side of this issue? Could you please help us preserve congeniality, too?
Good Morning:
I had no trouble with the solve itself, Ume being the only unknown, but the reveal is a phrase that I have come to dislike immensely. Politicians and news people have adopted it and it has become an irritating cliché, as has the equally annoying Circle Back. I’m not familiar with Suitcase Lunges, Box Defense, nor Bag of Bones as a novel, therefore, the solve offered little enjoyment and no satisfaction due to the theme.
Thanks, Splynter, for the honest and fair review. Congrats to your brother on his upcoming nuptials. Nice to see Cooper again but it would be nicer to see your very own canine buddy. Good luck finding the right one soon!
Have a great day.
Anonymous, I’m on Episode 3. I love Titus Welliver in the Bosch role, I think he’s perfect, but I think the actress who plays his daughter is sorely lacking in acting ability. I don’t see any father-daughter chemistry between them at all. IMO, she adds zero to the show and is unconvincing as a police officer.
Musings
-Stella always constructs puzzles that generate a lot DOH’s from me. I’m sure FANFI_/_SAS was an “any port in a storm” situation for her but it yielded.
-BTW, Stella also produces a puzzle called DAILY COMMUTER CROSSWORD where she dials things back.
-Some of you know Stella is a weightlifter and so SUITCASE LUNGE is an apt fill
-Some of you know Stella is a singer in the NYC Oratorio Society and so “Opere e oratori” and “Like operas and oratorios” were apt clues
-FAVA was a favorite side dish for Hannibal (Lector) the cannibal
-We played a BOX and 1 defense in HS and I was the 1 that chased the other teams best scorer. Uh, he got 35 points. :-(
-Hercule Poirot frequently tells Miss Lemon to POST a letter or check the afternoon POST
-We now have a BYPASS all the way around our town but people hate these four things
FIW. Is today Friday? This puzzle definitely isn't Wednesday fare!
Took a WAG at two Naticks and wrong on both: ume and como, and fanfic and csas. What?
I fortunately got the theme from the reveal, and that helped a lot. But the cluing in this puzzle was somewhat arcane to me.
Overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
"In-the-language" (ITL) is a phrase I've heard referring to crossword entries, and evidently a choice preferred by our esteemed editor. If many of today's entries are ITL, I want no part of it.
There are terms in the puzzle that I have never used, or heard of, or ever intend to use, such as DURAG and ANFIC. A critical answer, the Reveal, is a phrase that I
have never heard, LETSUNPACKTHAT--and I have worked with therapists. Evidently "you feel me?" is a 21st century attempted improvement on "you understand me?" What----is "understand" just too long a word for people to handle now?
Then there are the clearing-of-the-throat ITL utterances like "uh-uh" (NAH). And OOH.
How about the wretched GETTABLE? Is that really a desirable in-the-language contribution?
And the puzzle treated us to the usual proper names, such as CHOO and CHAKA.
Thanks, Splynter, for your helpful and entertaining recap. I found it refreshingly frank and on-the mark.
Hola! WEES. I found this one easy/hard; I filled all but the X in XKE and the C in CSAS since I know very little about cars and even less about FANFIC, whatever that is. To my surprise I filled SUITCASE LUNGES and laughed at the image. But I did not HESITATE with DINGO, DURAG, AERIE and others which I've learned only from doing crosswords. I have a pair of AVIA shoes but would not pay $1200 for Jimmy CHOO shoes. I saw those on display.
COMO was easy but is often clued as a lake in Italy or a 50's singer.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Thanks to Stella and Splynter for today's aMAZEment.
Swimming against the current today ... Stella's puzzle was a delight to me and I finished it easily. DH and I do SUITCASE LUNGES, but I did not know that's what they're called. Obvs I DNK the football term, and had not read the scary novel, but those filled in with help from perps. LET'S UNPACK THAT was a clever way to tie the themers together with a currently popular idiom. A nice start to Wednesday, if you ask me.
Mostly incomprehensible: I.E.: me doing the puzzle...
(I had no fun at all, not one "aha," but lots of "wtf's"...)
1 across?
1 down?
um...
it was like...
One saving grace was Splynter gave us a leg up while splainin...
CED out...
Wednesday Wonder. Thanks for the fun, Stella and Splynter.
My newspaper does not credit the constructor, and I arrived here to an “aha, that explains it” when I saw Stella’s name.
I FIRed eventually, and saw the UNPACK theme.
This CW was barely GETTABLE (I prefer Doable).
What d’o said about all the word changes, and those llamas!
What Jinx said about my nose wrinkle at DEFENSE not defence.
I thought it was Canadian disadvantage, but I see that some of you Americans had trouble with CSAS, OSU, (ACLU I have learned).
CHAKA was all perps.
I wanted the section to be Strings but NECK fit.
CHOO reminded me of Marti who used to give us photos of his shoes when she blogged (Splynter gives us legs).
I did not HESITATE to enter DURAG after Parsan’s post yesterday about getting the wrong day’s CW in her newspaper.
Wishing you all a great day.
Meh. I'll Echo T-Ken and CED on this one. A true fun-sponge for me. Fortunately, there was Splynters review to pump some enjoyment back into my morning!
Like Irish Miss ☘️ I am not familiar with any of the theme answers, so I was left underwhelmed. I do lunges with weights, but I never knew they were called SUITCASE LUNGES. Seeing the pic Splynter included makes me see why the name. The football formation totally unknown as well as the King novel. I’m not á fan of this genre of novel.
I only know LOKI from Norse mythology. And like everyone else I had to guess the C of FANFIC and CSAS. Not my favorite CW this morning though I FIR.
Thank you Splynter for your nice review.
“But it was the last one they had” LOL.
FANFIC is abbreviation of "Fan Fiction" -- fans writing stories involving their favorite fictional (Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel) characters.
So you're saying that if I (by some miracle) created a puzzle with a clue "technique that measures time, progress, and money simultaneously" for EARNED VALUE, and "Nicro Fico Swivel Snap _____" for SHACKLE would be apt clues because they are old hat to me, since I'm a sailor and project manager?
Perhaps those of us who clearly identify as female (XX) or male (XY) are very lucky, because doctors of anatomy and biologists know it is not always that black and white.. Life can be very difficult for those who do not fit the mold.
This is the puzzle the Times. Union published yesterday that I mentioned on the blog. They published it again today! Last Wednesday and Thursday they also published the same puzzle by Joe Rodini. What is going on?
Well, this CW made me consider quitting doing CWs. WAY to much stuff I DNK, a great many things I had never heard of. Started with pen on paper, soon changed to online version, turned on red-letter help and still needed multiple alpha runs. VERY discouraging. Not familiar with a FAVA bean. Never heard of FANFIC, or CSAS. A couple clues were clever, and my fault I struggled with them. An example is 31D "Car rental option". After ALAMO didn't perp, and HERTZ didn't either, only then did SEDAN perp in. 1A got me off to a bad start, never thought of DURAG, which I was sure was DOORAG, or maybe DORAG. Why would it have a "U"? It's about protecting a "hairdo", no? When a Wednesday CW gives me this much trouble perhaps it IS time to quit. I did not have any fun with this CW. I did enjoy Splynter's write-up, though. Thanx for the providing the best part of this experience, Splynter. NICE leg picture. If I struggle this much tomorrow, maybe I'll just give up on CWs. Timer says I spent 18 minutes to complete this CW. Seemed much longer. No fun and not good brain exercise either if I have to rely on alpha runs, so what's the point? (Grumble, grump!)
Fanfic? Fava and CSAs did me in. The rest was OK or my guessing was better. I enjoyed your recap Splynter.
NAH.
I enjoyed Splynter's write-up very much.
Sheesh, I really dislike entries like:
"You __ me?": FEEL
"Uh-uh": NAH
"So cool!": OOH
"In my opinion ... ": I SAY
and "That true?": IS IT.
Good reading you all.
Interesting Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Stella. And your commentary was helpful as always, Splynter, thanks for that too.
Well, it felt like this puzzle might have made someone FEEL nervous and have a SCARE about maybe getting FLEECED AGAIN. That might encourage them not to HESITATE but just BYPASS all the dangers, if possible. Maybe they'd get in their SEDAN and go down to the PIER and feed an EAGLE. A much more GETTABLE day, I'd say.
Have a lovely day, everybody.
YP here ~ I may be in the minority here, but I didn’t think this puzzle was difficult compared to other offerings from Stella Z, she can be tough but I like her style. Perps easily filled the themers which were unknown to me, FIR in 12:22, last fill took a short a-run to the C in FANFIC/CSAS, which nobody seemed to know. Thanks for the challenge Stella, and to Splynter for explaining it all!
I don't get it - you and others complain about repeated mistakes made by your local fish wrapper when they misprint the LA Times crossword, but you won't fix it by just going to the source - https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword. My hometown paper also offers the LAT puzzle, but I just go to the source and print the puzzle before I click on the Virginian Pilot.
ParSam, hear, hear!
Hi All!
I guess my experience with Stella's puzzle was different that y'alls - I had no problems until I got to FAN lit and then had to noodle.
Thanks for the puzzle, Stella. Thanks for the rockin' review, Splynter!
WOs: trot -> LOPE, FANlit -> FANFIC (meh!) | lama -> FAVA
ESPs: BAG OF BONES, CSAS
Fav: DON as clued.
I enjoyed reading y'all!
Cheers, -T
Jinx, not everyone solves online.
Thanks, Stella for a puzzle FULL OF head scratchers. I thought I was such a smartie pants filling in PET SYMETRY for the Stephen King graveyard book. (I've never read a SK book.) That took a while to UNPACK.... My last fill was the X.
I used to have a cowdog that was half DINGO. He was a tough dog.
UME is pronounced "oo-may" where the "oo" is like in "boot".
Saw the CSO to H-Gary's Lily.
Who else is still watching the Big Bear EAGLEs? They have named the chicks: Sunny & Gismo.
D-O@5:51. You cracked me up today!
IM@9:43. DH watches Bosche. He pretty much tells me word-for-word what you said on a regular basis.
Thanks to Splynter for today's tour! I say this every time but Cooper is soooo cuuuute!
39A is kinda an Easter Egg. With "THIS END UP" having to do with packages.
Big Easy, ditto on the doorag/dorag. Never ever seen 'durag' before.
Nice catch, Brian!
Yeah, IM, like me. I'm a pencil and many erasers kinda guy. Prints great at the LAT site. I guess maybe the folks who gripe may still get their physical paper and don't want to create an additional copy when they already have one in newsprint. That's certainly a valid choice, I just don't understand it.
ParSan.
Hey Jinz, my Marshall friend, why so🤮? You:—-look it up, walk to the printer and print it out, sit down and do the puzzle. Me:—- sit down and do the puzzle. In truth, the TU has been consistently correct for many years so this latest week of errors is unprecedented.. It was not my favorite puzzle the
first time I solved it and I didn’t like it any better today.😊😊😊
.
No barfing here. I sometimes forget that I once favored a printed newspaper to the online version, and that I was once reluctant to disconnect my landline. To each his/her own. It's just that we read of various difficulties when someone's local yokels mess up the sequence or sometimes the bylines. I do avoid all that by getting it from the horse's er, er mouth.
desper-o
Thank you for FANFIC. I had no idea what that was.
Jinx, sorry, I spoke without reading your entire post more closely.
Toughie for a Wednesday and nearly wore out my eraser but got it done, As mentioned, never saw Do(o)rag spelled with a u as it refers to a hairdo. If you really want to get fancy, how about deauxrag? Mais oui!
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