Theme: Actor's Ego (Will Rogers Quip)
27A: Start of Will Rogers quip: The movies enable an
54A: Part 2 of the quip: Actor not only
69A: Part 3 of the quip: To act but also to sit down
87A: Part 4 of the quip: In the theater
115A: End of quip: And clap for himself
Can anyone please tell me what's the difference between a "quote" and a "quip"? If a "quip" is supposed to be funny and witty, then this one is not, at least, not to me. It's just an ordinary "quote". Or am I the only one who does not get it?
I did not enjoy Mr. Olschwang's last puzzle either. "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all". It did not make sense to me.
So I started today's puzzle with a very bad attitude. Could not summon up enough enthusiasm for a quip puzzle. But I was able to fill in these foreign words quickly: PERE (father), ETE (summer), ILS (they), MERCI and GRACIAS (Thank you), Coup d'ETAT, AMAH (Indian housemaid), NATALE (Christmas in Roma), LESE-majesty, TSAR (Russian Ruler). FRIA (cold in Chile) was the only one that escaped me.
Although Mr. Olschwang did not bring out more 2-toed, or 3-toed sloths (AIS and UNAU) today, he still managed to frustrate me with a few legitimate fills. I never heard of the Sportscaster Rashad (AHMAD), never heard of Conductor Antal (DORATI), never heard of Greek island (CORFU). And the word TUAREG for (77A: Member of a Saharan nomadic tribe) just looked plain wrong to me. I really like the clue for 110D: Friendly or Savage (FRED). Very cleverly misleading.
Here are the across entries:
1A: Plantation machine: BALER
6A: Makes lace: TATS
10A: Creative Coward: NOEL. English actor. He is in the original The Italian Job. I like the 2003 version with Mark Wahlberg and Donald Sutherland. Charlize Theron is in it too.
14A: Puccini opera: TOSCA. Learned from doing crossword.
19A: Organic compound: AMINE
20A: Taj Mahal site: AGRA. I tend to confuse this one with the Turkish title AGA.
21A: Actor Gross: ARYE. I actually saw Gone in Sixty Second, but I did not remember him.
22A: Ferber and O'Brien: EDNAS
23A: Soho so longs: TATAS
26A: Closes in: NEARS
30A: "__ Gotta Be Me": I'VE. OK, I am not going to make another mistake today. It's Sammy Davis Jr. Song. Buddy Holly's song is "I've got to be me". ' N Sync song: "It's Gonna Be Me."
31A: Demonstrates connections: RELATES
32A: Et __ (and others): ALII. This is the masculine plural, the feminine plural is et aliae, the neuter plural is et alia.
33A: Gin cocktail: GIMLET
35A: Securely closed: SEALED
37A: Tightly packed: DENSE
39A: Hangman's knot: NOOSE. The Golfweek Noose Debacle!
41A: NL Braves: ATL (Atlanta Braves)
42A: Yule mo.: DEC
45A: Moon vehicle, briefly: LEM (Lunar Excursion Module).
46A: Verbalize an ache: MOAN
50A: Hand part: PALM
52A: Scot Roy: ROB. Scottish folk hero.
58A: Eyelid woes: STYES
60A: Mil. unit: REGT (Regiment)
62A: "Twelfth Night" duke: ORSINO. Unknown to me.
63A: Building wing: ELL
64A: Double-breasted jacket: REEFER. It looks like this.
66A: Hot time in Paris: ETE. French winter is d'hiver.
67A: Playground rejoinder to "am not": ARE TOO
75A: Stir to action: INCITE
76A: Upper limit: CAP
77A: Member of a Saharan nomadic tribe: TUAREG. Please google it yourself and see how you like their image.
78A: O. T. Book: MIC (Micah)
79A: Sensual: EROTIC
82A: One of the Simpsons: BART. Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa.
83A: Religious denominations: SECTS
90A: Sleuth Spade: SAM
92A: Get to one's feet: RISE
93A: Lucy's love: DESI. I Love Lucy.
94A: They: Fr.: ILS
95A: Totality: SUM
97A: Long of "The Broken Hearts Club": NIA. Our editor loves Nia.
99A: Elongated fish: GAR. Another frequent offender.
100A: California/Nevada lake: TAHOE
103A: Group of eight: OCTAD
105A: "Broken Arrow" co-star: ANSARA (Michael). He is another stranger to me.
107A: Give one's consent: ACCEDE
110A: Casa component: SALA (large living room)
112A: Having richer soil: LOAMIER. I think we need loamy soil for our cucumber this year. Ours never tasted as good as the ones sold at the Farmer's Market.
114A: Maglie of baseball: SAL. Nicknamed "Sal the Barber." He is not in HOF, in case you wonder.
120A: Street talk: SLANG
122A: Netherlands city: ROTTERDAM, the second largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam.
123A: Essential perfume: ATTAR
124A: I wasn't there at the time, e. g.: ALIBI
125A: Moonfish: OPAH. It looks pretty.
126A: Tiny amount: IOTA
127A: Volunteer's words: LET ME
128A: Explorer Polo: MARCO
129A: French father: PERE.
130A: Very dry: ARID
131A: Proud mount: STEED. I think this word has appeared at least 3 times since I started my blog.
Down entries:
1D: Fabric stuffing: BATT. Did not know this word.
2D: Indian housemaid: AMAH
3D: Strictly speaking: LITERALLY
4D: Tooth covering: ENAMEL
5D: Mended shoes: RESOLED
6D: Unspoken: TACIT
7D: Came to terms: AGREED
8D: Supporting pieces: TRUSSES. Did not know this constructional term.
9D: Notorious marquis: SADE. Marquis de Sade. He was sick. Why not clue Sade as Singer of "Smooth Operator"? I could not tell you how much I love Sade's " Somebody Already Broken My Heart".
10D: Christmas in Roma: NATALE. Buon Natale.
11D: Pygmy antelope: ORIBI. I did not know any kind of antelope, not to mention pygmy antelope.
12D: Some makeup products: EYE LINERS. Finally a gimme.
13D: __ - majesty: LESE. This is the highest crime you can commit against your country, isn't it?
14D: Ashe Stadium sport: TENNIS
16D: Exemplar of slowness: SNAIL
18D: Advantage: ASSET
19D: Momentarily: In A SEC. I like answer. Very colloquial.
34D: Interoffice communique: MEMO
35D: Digs a trench: SAPS. Did not know that sap can mean "dig trench in the ground."
36D: Coup d'__: ETAT
38D: Clean and tidy: NEAT
40D: Former Atlanta arena: OMNI. I am so proud that I got this one.
43D: Greek island: CORFU. I put Crete first.
45D: Young or Swit: LORETTA. Knew Loretta young, never heard of Loretta Swit. She was in M*A*S*H.
47D: A customer lead-in: ONE TO. I don't understand this one, what is "one to a customer?"
48D: Give permission: ALLOW
49D: Hose material: NYLON
51D: Thanks, Pierre: MERCI
53D: Sugar source: BEET
55D: Dog in Oz: TOTO
56D: Radio studio sign: ON AIR
57D: Rich desserts: TORTES. Speak of desserts, Krispy Kreme just closed their last store here in MN.
59D: Medium-sized sofa: SETTEE
61D: Thanks, Pedro: GRACIAS
65D: Chicago-based film critic: EBERT (Roger)
66D: 6th sense: ESP (Extrasensory Perception)
68D: Lawn tool: EDGER
69D: Shy: TIMID
70D: Cat - ___-tails: O' NINE. See here. It's a whipping device.
71D: Banking holdings: abbr: ACCTS (Accounts)
72D: Milk: pref: LACT
74D: Evil personified: SATAN
80D: Buckeye State: OHIO
81D: Astronomer's instrument: TELESCOPE
82D: Very dry, as champagne: BRUT
84D: Tobacco product: CIGARETTE
85D: Russian ruler: TSAR
86D: Medicinal fluids: SERA (Serum is the single form)
88D: "Women and Love" author: HITE. Her name was in Friday's puzzle, the clue is Sex researcher Hite (SHERE).
89D: Break free: ESCAPE
91D: Home of the Heat: MIAMI. Miami Heat, the NBA team.
96D: Stench: MALODOR
98D: Beasts: ANIMALS
101D: Slowly, in music: ADAGIO. What's the difference between "lento" and "adagio?"
103D: Kansas city: OLATHE. Did not know this city. It's ranked 13th in the CNN 2006 "100 best cities to live in the US."
104D: Conductor Antal: DORATI. I am very weak in conductor/composer names.
105D: Sonnet part: SESTET
107D: Isolated Indian State: ASSAM. Famous for its tea.
108D: Type of lilly: CALLA
109D: Verlaine poem: "__ de lune:": CLAIR. Knew it from doing crossword.
111D: Bridal path end: ALTAR
113D: Sportscaster Rashad: AHMAD. He actually played for the Vikings. Wikipedia did not tell me why he changed his original name Robert to Ah-Mad.
116D: Hit the dirt: DROP
117D: Cold, in Chile: FRIA. It it correct here? I could not find this word in any dictionary. Frio is a word meaning cold.
118D: Kind of duck: LAME
119D: Friendly or Savage: FRED. Never heard of them before. Fred Friendly was the former president of CBS News. He and Ed Murrow created the "See it Now." I like Fred Savage's brother Ben, who was playing Cory in "Boys Meets World."
121D: Peacock network: NBC
OK, here are something unrelated to crosswords: my prediction for Oscar tonight:
Best Actor: Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)
Best Actress: Julie Christie (Away from Her)
Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (I Am Not There)
Best director: the Cohen brothers (No Country for Old Men)
Best picture: No Country for Old Men
I will also pick up Sicko for best documentary, Juno for best original screenplay, and Ratatouille as the best animated film.
C. C.
Hi, clue was clean and tidy (not dirty)
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing it out. I've changed it.
ReplyDeleteC.C.
Ahmad Rashad was a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. After retiring he became a sportscaster.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 5:07pm,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information.
I did a bit more digging, and found out that Ahmad means "highly praised" in Arabic. I was baffled by why he called himself Ahmad.
C. C.
enjoy the site -learning more each day-I am new to this addictive past-time
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 7:08pm,
ReplyDeleteIt's a healthy addiction. No side effect.
By the way, many of us are new solvers here.
C. C.
Didn't care for the ARYE/ORIBI crossing. Never heard of either one, and no good way to guess that it was an R that was missing, vs. a N or L or just about anything else.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that a quote theme features an actual quote from a real person or character, while a quip theme has some sort of joke or observation that isn't a quote from anyone in particular.
ReplyDeleteYou will see relatively few quote or quip puzzles in the New York Times. Why? Because most of them have just one little "aha" moment, vs. a regular Sunday theme having six to ten separate "aha" moments when you figure out each theme entry. (And Will Shortz wants his solvers to have fun.) The back-and-forth reliance on the Down answers to piece the quote or quip together feels like drudgery to a lot of us.
Rosebud,
ReplyDeleteAs a novice solver, I have not reached the level to structurally analyze a puzzle like you do right now on this crossing of Oribi & Arye.
But I do see your point. Maybe when I am getting better, I will see that too.
C. C.
Orange,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was struggling with the quip yesterday, I thought of what you talked on the radio on Will Shortz' take on the quote. And I thought of that third caller Roger, who mentioned how much he hated Tribune's Sunday quip.
So, in your opinion, is this Will Rogers' saying a quote or a quip?
I've developed a very negative feeling towards Mr. Olschwang. I know I should not, but I really have difficulty understanding his humor behind the quips (3 times in a row I think).
Thank you.
C. C.
fria is a head cold.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the information, Anonymous at 8:47pm. I will share this information with others.
ReplyDeleteC. C.
Can anyone tell me how I can find the actual puzzle. I found the Tribune but could not access Sundays puzzle
ReplyDeleteThanks
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThe Star Tribune Newspaper here in Minnesota has Monday-Sunday Puzzles
They have a different set of puzzle on their website, the Universal syndicate.
If you live in Chicago, then your paper only get Monday to Saturday puzzles. I have no idea why you do not have Sunday puzzle.
C. C.
I am referring to the puzzle that appears in this blog. My friend lives in Ct and her paper is the same puzzle. I was trying to find this puzzle online, so we could try and solve it together. She does not know how to scan and send a copy. Thanks
ReplyDelete