Theme: Common Phrases for "WORN OUT"
20A: In need of a boost: RUNNING ON EMPTY
39A: Energy depleted: ALL OUT OF STEAM
60A: Exhausted: ON ONE'S LAST LEGS
I enjoyed your comments on yesterday's ICED/ICE tea, very entertaining. Keep 'em coming!
It's a "S" Fest today. Total 23, that's about 12% of the total fill. These rampant ESSE, ESSEN, MESS, ASSES made me cringe! Did you groan at all?
I had a double-bogey round of golf today, mainly due to the heavy-rough right corner. First of all, I had no idea where the fairway was. I did not know that "bark'' can be a boat/SHIP. And WISTERIA was not an easy word to be squeezed out of my brain, neither was ARMYWORM. I felt so stupid falling into the ISMS bunker again. What a waste of my years studying Marxism, Leninism and Mao Ze-Dong Thought.
So I cheated, I went to the dictionary for the definition of "bark", kicked my ball out of the rough a la Mulligan President Clinton, hacked it close to the green and somehow chipped it in. All the other holes were fairly easy, no dogleg, no severe slope, no unfair pin position. All in all, a fun round!
The grid structure of the first several rows and the middle part is so similar to Ms. Baldwin's last offering. She might be using a crossword software for the construction I think. Are any of you guys foodies? Do the crossings of ASPIC, TOAST & OGEES look pleasing to your eyes?
Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Total blank squares: 36 (identical to yesterday's).
Front Nine:
10A: Swing to and fro: SWAY
15A: Half-pints: RUNTS. I got it from down clues. I had no idea that "Half-pints" is a slang for a short person. Besides "shrimp", what other words have the similar meaning?
19A: Doctrines: ISMS
24A: Word with Whiz: GEE. Good, no more "Turns right" (GEES), singular for a change. This should make one solver happy. Want to know who he/she is? Go to the Comments section of the March 27 puzzle, and see who opined at 7:39am.
25A: Generic stuff: DNA. Never know when to put DNA and when to put RNA.
26A: Flock member: EWE
30A: Pi follower: RHO. Very easy to infer, even if you are not sure of the exact order of the Greek alphabet.
32A: Atomic number 5: BORON. No idea. I suck at this atomic matter.
34A: Took the cake: WON. I ATE first.
36A: Frequently, to a bard: OFT
38A: Encircle: GIRD. Variant spelling is GIRT.
43A: Utter joy: GLEE. I always associate utter joy with "BLISS". To me, "GLEE" has a "GLOAT" connotation.
45A: "Annabel Lee" poet: POE. I tried too hard to outsmart the editor. I penned in EAP recklessly.
46A: Small salamanders: NEWTS
50A: Meat stock jelly: ASPIC
65A: Poultry housing: COOPS. Good clue. "Housing" refers to houses collectively, in case you wonder why "S" is there.
68A: Be entertaining: AMUSE
69A: Soybean paste: MISO. Hmm, it's clued as "Sushi bar soup" last time. Someone misread the clue as "Sushi bar soap" (you know who you are). And this soap does exist, look at here.
Back Nine:
1D: Hooded vipers: COBRAS. Never knew that "Hood" a special term for snake's neck skin. Interesting. Snakes do not have sternum.
2D: Exceedingly sudden: ABRUPT
3D: Primitive shelter: LEAN TO. Weren't you here yesterday?
4D: Loretta of country music: LYNN. Surprise me with something else! Jaime __ Spears!
5D: Stretch one's neck: CRANE. I try to picture how COBRAS can "stretch their ribs outwards which expands the hood."
6D: Kind of strike: HUNGER.Solution: Force-feed!
8D: Stalemate: STANDOFF
9D: City on the Ruhr: ESSEN
10D: Ark or bark: SHIP
11D: Showy ornamental vine: WISTERIA. It's "any climbing shrub belonging to the genus Wisteria, of the legume family, having showy, pendent clusters of blue-violet, white, purple, or rose flowers." Look at this picture, isn't it lovely?
12D: Destructive moth larva: ARMYWORM. Ick.
22D: Queen of fairies: MAB. "Queen Mab". It's also the name of Marianne's horse in "Sense and Sensibility."
29D: Little screecher: OWLET
31D: Hogwash: HOOEY
33D: Curvy moldings: OGEES. It's a "molding having the profile of an S-shaped curve". Now this is very fascinating: "In fluid mechanics, the term ogee is used for an aerodynamic curve due to the "oh, gee!" effect of physically navigating such a curve. For example, a wing may be shaped as an ogee curve, particularly on supersonic aircraft such as the Condord. Also, the downstream face of a dam spillway is usually formed in an ogee curve to minimize erosion."
35D: Crackpot: NUT
39D: Tavern: ALE HOUSE. I put TEA HOUSE first.
40D: Indecency: LEWDNESS
41D: Humdrum: TIRESOME. I put BORESOME first.
42D: Drinker's salute: TOAST
43D: Economic stat.: GNP (Gross Nation Product). I am just so intrigued by Bhutan's GNH (Gross National Happiness) measurement. It's such an innovative way to ascertain the quality of our life, albeit not as scientific as GNP.
49D: Slip away: ELAPSE. Don't like the double "P" appearance here.
51D: Lyrical: POETIC. Have yet to hear from Bob Dylan himself on the Pulitzer!
52D: Consume: INGEST. Antonym: EGEST
53D: Universe: COSMOS. The plural for COSMOS could be COSMOS or COSMOSES.
56D: Coffeehouse order: DECAF
58D: Nincompoops: ASSES. Could not find the origin of this "Nincompoops" anywhere.
61D: Fodder for the smelter: ORES. I never knew that "Fodder"s plural form is still "Fodder". Good to learn. This is my favorite clue of today's puzzle. I like the "er" rhyme.
62D: Churlish individual: LOUT. I put BOOR first.
63D: Succotash morsel: LIMA. Disagree. It's LIMA BEAN. Cooked with kernels of corns.
64D: Sleep state: R. E. M. (Rapid Eye Movement". It's was clued as "Man on the Moon" group on March 18.
Please let Philip J. Anderson return tomorrow!
C.C.
20A: In need of a boost: RUNNING ON EMPTY
39A: Energy depleted: ALL OUT OF STEAM
60A: Exhausted: ON ONE'S LAST LEGS
I enjoyed your comments on yesterday's ICED/ICE tea, very entertaining. Keep 'em coming!
It's a "S" Fest today. Total 23, that's about 12% of the total fill. These rampant ESSE, ESSEN, MESS, ASSES made me cringe! Did you groan at all?
I had a double-bogey round of golf today, mainly due to the heavy-rough right corner. First of all, I had no idea where the fairway was. I did not know that "bark'' can be a boat/SHIP. And WISTERIA was not an easy word to be squeezed out of my brain, neither was ARMYWORM. I felt so stupid falling into the ISMS bunker again. What a waste of my years studying Marxism, Leninism and Mao Ze-Dong Thought.
So I cheated, I went to the dictionary for the definition of "bark", kicked my ball out of the rough a la Mulligan President Clinton, hacked it close to the green and somehow chipped it in. All the other holes were fairly easy, no dogleg, no severe slope, no unfair pin position. All in all, a fun round!
The grid structure of the first several rows and the middle part is so similar to Ms. Baldwin's last offering. She might be using a crossword software for the construction I think. Are any of you guys foodies? Do the crossings of ASPIC, TOAST & OGEES look pleasing to your eyes?
Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Total blank squares: 36 (identical to yesterday's).
Front Nine:
10A: Swing to and fro: SWAY
15A: Half-pints: RUNTS. I got it from down clues. I had no idea that "Half-pints" is a slang for a short person. Besides "shrimp", what other words have the similar meaning?
19A: Doctrines: ISMS
24A: Word with Whiz: GEE. Good, no more "Turns right" (GEES), singular for a change. This should make one solver happy. Want to know who he/she is? Go to the Comments section of the March 27 puzzle, and see who opined at 7:39am.
25A: Generic stuff: DNA. Never know when to put DNA and when to put RNA.
26A: Flock member: EWE
30A: Pi follower: RHO. Very easy to infer, even if you are not sure of the exact order of the Greek alphabet.
32A: Atomic number 5: BORON. No idea. I suck at this atomic matter.
34A: Took the cake: WON. I ATE first.
36A: Frequently, to a bard: OFT
38A: Encircle: GIRD. Variant spelling is GIRT.
43A: Utter joy: GLEE. I always associate utter joy with "BLISS". To me, "GLEE" has a "GLOAT" connotation.
45A: "Annabel Lee" poet: POE. I tried too hard to outsmart the editor. I penned in EAP recklessly.
46A: Small salamanders: NEWTS
50A: Meat stock jelly: ASPIC
65A: Poultry housing: COOPS. Good clue. "Housing" refers to houses collectively, in case you wonder why "S" is there.
68A: Be entertaining: AMUSE
69A: Soybean paste: MISO. Hmm, it's clued as "Sushi bar soup" last time. Someone misread the clue as "Sushi bar soap" (you know who you are). And this soap does exist, look at here.
Back Nine:
1D: Hooded vipers: COBRAS. Never knew that "Hood" a special term for snake's neck skin. Interesting. Snakes do not have sternum.
2D: Exceedingly sudden: ABRUPT
3D: Primitive shelter: LEAN TO. Weren't you here yesterday?
4D: Loretta of country music: LYNN. Surprise me with something else! Jaime __ Spears!
5D: Stretch one's neck: CRANE. I try to picture how COBRAS can "stretch their ribs outwards which expands the hood."
6D: Kind of strike: HUNGER.
8D: Stalemate: STANDOFF
9D: City on the Ruhr: ESSEN
10D: Ark or bark: SHIP
11D: Showy ornamental vine: WISTERIA. It's "any climbing shrub belonging to the genus Wisteria, of the legume family, having showy, pendent clusters of blue-violet, white, purple, or rose flowers." Look at this picture, isn't it lovely?
12D: Destructive moth larva: ARMYWORM. Ick.
22D: Queen of fairies: MAB. "Queen Mab". It's also the name of Marianne's horse in "Sense and Sensibility."
29D: Little screecher: OWLET
31D: Hogwash: HOOEY
33D: Curvy moldings: OGEES. It's a "molding having the profile of an S-shaped curve". Now this is very fascinating: "In fluid mechanics, the term ogee is used for an aerodynamic curve due to the "oh, gee!" effect of physically navigating such a curve. For example, a wing may be shaped as an ogee curve, particularly on supersonic aircraft such as the Condord. Also, the downstream face of a dam spillway is usually formed in an ogee curve to minimize erosion."
35D: Crackpot: NUT
39D: Tavern: ALE HOUSE. I put TEA HOUSE first.
40D: Indecency: LEWDNESS
41D: Humdrum: TIRESOME. I put BORESOME first.
42D: Drinker's salute: TOAST
43D: Economic stat.: GNP (Gross Nation Product). I am just so intrigued by Bhutan's GNH (Gross National Happiness) measurement. It's such an innovative way to ascertain the quality of our life, albeit not as scientific as GNP.
49D: Slip away: ELAPSE. Don't like the double "P" appearance here.
51D: Lyrical: POETIC. Have yet to hear from Bob Dylan himself on the Pulitzer!
52D: Consume: INGEST. Antonym: EGEST
53D: Universe: COSMOS. The plural for COSMOS could be COSMOS or COSMOSES.
56D: Coffeehouse order: DECAF
58D: Nincompoops: ASSES. Could not find the origin of this "Nincompoops" anywhere.
61D: Fodder for the smelter: ORES. I never knew that "Fodder"s plural form is still "Fodder". Good to learn. This is my favorite clue of today's puzzle. I like the "er" rhyme.
62D: Churlish individual: LOUT. I put BOOR first.
63D: Succotash morsel: LIMA. Disagree. It's LIMA BEAN. Cooked with kernels of corns.
64D: Sleep state: R. E. M. (Rapid Eye Movement". It's was clued as "Man on the Moon" group on March 18.
Please let Philip J. Anderson return tomorrow!
C.C.
38 comments:
I did not know BARK as a ship either c.c.. ARMYWORM was new to me as was MISO. EWE was clued as "Stand-in for you in Concentration" in NYT today-can't say I'd seen that before!
Good morning, C.C. - Well, if this keeps up, I'm gonna have a head the size of a basketball; this makes 7 in a row, and a sub-5 minute one at that. What's with these people? Where's all that arcane/obscure stuff? We're being set up for a puzzle that's entirely in Bantu (whatever that is).
OK, I'm done now.
C.C., there's lots of words for runts - another is peewee.
Hope it's a better day for everyone than it is here - gray/rainy yet again.
Checkers, anyone?
nytanonimo,
I don't get it, why EWE is "Stand-in for you in concentration"??
Dennis,
You escaped the Sunday scourge!
C. C. I must be getting better at doing these puzzles... today was a breeze for me. Though "Armyworm" kind of threw me... but I solved it going across. I had never heard of 50A Aspic... again I solved it going down.... phew...
Have a great day.
Good morning CC. I am back from Tennessee. I missed the crossword. They don't have the Tribune there. Today's was a breeze for me. I appreciate the info on the Greek letters. You mentioned something about Roman Numerals. Did you post something on that? I have not had time to go over the blogs for the last few days. I am not good at those. The weather in Knoxville was beautiful...
They must have taken my suggestion a while ago to use "gee whiz." I thought of birch Bark canoe but don't think it is correct. I agree with the SS of today's puzzle. This one took 11 minutes. There were too many poem references - ode,oft (they refer to a bard in the clue), and worst of the worst - POE and POEtic.
If nytanonimo is referring to the picture game Concentration,a picture of a ewe in the game would be the clue for the word "you" that would be part of the phrase solution of the game. Remember Rebus puzzles?
drdad - a bark, or barque, was a sailing ship from the 18th/19th century. It had a unique rigging, but I can't recall what was different about it.
Dennis - there are about 500languages in Bantu which is a narrow group of languages belonging to the Niger-Congo language family. I'm waiting for hieroglyphics or runes myself.
superfrey,
You are getting better.Here is a ASPIC picture for you. It's delicious!
Katherine,
Hope your trip went well. No, I've never done a post on Roman Numerals. Maybe I should do one, to make you and mkat happy!
drdad,
Yup! That's your idea! Maybe the Editor is reading our comments?
Now I see what EWE means. Clever. No, I've never done a Rebus puzzle. Can hardly finish a no-frills puzzle.
Ugh. I missed another chance. And POE and POETIC were stacked so close to each other!!
Dennis,
What's the difference between a SHIP and a BOAT?
Runes would be outstanding - you could solve in either direction!
C.C. - ask a sailor that, then run like hell.
Good morning,
I'm a newbie - my very first time responding to a blog but I LOVE yours and look forward to it every morning! And yes, a 'barque' is a 3+ masted English sailing vessel with a particular rigging. Cheers!
Hello everyone. Liked todays puzzle and breezed through in no time. Made a couple of stupid mistakes that threw me off for a bit. For 46A I inserted NEFTS and not NEWTS. Lewdness finally solved that problem. For 53D I originally had worlds but was saved by 50A aspic. This will be another grand golf day in the Berg so I will join yu again tomorrow.
cc You can put a boat on a ship but you cannot put a ship on a boat.
Click on the blue BARK in my first entry to see what they look like. Here is a killer rebus puzzle from last Thursday's NYT. (Scroll down to see.)
cc here is a link for basic Roman Numerals and it is easy to understand.
http://www.novaroma.org/via_romana/numbers.html
Good morning! I wasn't sure I was going to get the upper right corner, but when I finally got EWE for 26A, it coalesced. (Look at me, I'm using crossword words!) I kept thinking flock of birds, not flock of sheep.
I smiled when I saw the GEE whiz clue. :)
Have a good day!
What a great day! Only 1 error in about 6 minutes. It's inspiring! CC, thank you for the links. Is that aspic a dessert? Looks interesting. And I think I'll buy some sushi bar soap. Never heard of it, but it sounds like the fountain of youth in a bar...quite different than the fountain and bar I'm familiar with.
Dennis, you do make me laugh! My son in law is a Navy man. It'll be safe to ask him about a boat vs ship.
Ok, I'm ready for checkers!
Have a good day everybody.
dick,
Thanks for the boat/ship.
My Websters' dictionary explains BARK as a sailing BOAT. So I was confused.
Dennis,
Your response at 6:48 scared me. Is it that stupid a question?
Lois,
Aspic is savory.
Dick, thank you so much for the site on Roman Numerals. I printed it out.
Ship -- Boat difference. Here's a little known (I think) piece of info. Every warship in the US Navy is called a ship except one. What is it??
I flew through this one. Even words I wasn't sure about I guessed correctly. Probably took about 10 minutes. I nominate Essen for the repeat offender list (it's pbly already there). I thought there were some interesting and uncommon words such as ingest, poetic, cosmos, gird, wisteria, armyworm, & standoff which made it a fun and interesting puzzle.
BTW, "runt" comes fron runt of the litter which refers to the smallest dog in a batch of puppies. Sometimes the runt is not as healthy and ignored (left to die) by the mother.
Readers of nautical fiction will get the ark or bark clue. A bark is a small sailing warship.
I imagine the weather in Memphis is a little dismal this morning...
Piece of cake! Being from the south - Wisteria, Lima were 'old hats'.....easiest one to date for me....Loved the notes on ICED TEA.....
a submarine is called a 'boat'.
JIMHLLRN How about a PT Boat?
c.c.
re. your question on single/vs double quotes. Grammatically, I don't know. I've always thought they were used to signify that a word or phrase was a little out of context. Also you wouldn't have to put the end of sentence punctuation before a single quote like you would for a double quote.
If anyone really knows, I would like to share that knowledge.
thank you
jim
Found the following on single vs. double quotes.
Alsoat Wikipedia.
Looks like it varies depending on where you're from.
I give on the warship-What is it jimhllm?
C.C. - Sailors tend to be a bit touchy about the distinction between boat/ship.
Lois, I kept telling my wife to "king me" last night - she looked at me like i was nuts.
Hey C. C,
Did you notice we were still playing chess today? (Stalemate).
Lois,
Playing checkers with you sounds like it would be fun.
All,
Isn't it fun when inane thoughts sneak into your brain? My thought when I saw arc or bark was small dogs. Guess I read the c in arc as an f and thought of Little Orphan Annie. Really screws up a corner for a while ;~)
Not really much exciting in today's puzzle. Since a lot of people seem to be giving times: 5 minutes 36 seconds.
By comparison, last Saturday's NYT puzzle took more than 45 minutes.
Someday, someone will use the other clue for Ogee. She was the little girl in the Magilla Gorilla cartoons who always said "Oh, gee!"
In the opening of the show, she would say "How much is that gorilla in the window."
Jim,
Is it PT Boat?
Dennis,
Why are they touchy about that?
Razzberry,
I did notice the Stalemate.
How come nobody else complains about LIMA (63D)? Or do you really call LIMA BEAN as LIMA?
I think the ansswer Jim's looking for is submarine (as anonymous said); PT boats aren't around any longer..
C.C. - I think the distinction between boat/ship is made quite clear to sailors during training; kind of like a Marine calling his rifle a 'gun' - big no-no.
And 'lima' didn't bother me - long as I don't have to eat one, I'm fine.
Thanks for the Roman numeral graph; I printed it out for later. Also thanks for the photos; they help the memorization process.
Bark/ship relations: "embark" means to board ship. "Disembark" means to leave ship.
Enjoy this site but I'm not able to get to my puzzle till 10 am or later; too late to help anybody else.
c.c.
re the boat thing. All US Naval vessels are called ships with the exception of subs. I have no idea why, but they are.
Also - There have been a lot of new vessels added since my days, so this may be outdated information.
I searched every online dictionary I can find and some hard copy dictionaries. The only botanical reference to just plain "lima" is a dark wood from the South American tree Caesalpinia echinata. All other definitions regarding the bean begin with "lima bean" of which one version comes from northern Peru and is named after the capital, Lima. Nowhere is the bean referred to as just "lima" so I think C.C.'s disagreement with the clue is justified.
The men who build and launch them at Electric Boat in Groton, CT refer to a submarine as a "boat."
Dennis, that is sooo funny! Maybe she's a chess player and would rather "castle". Either way, it's win/win. I'm with you on the lima bean. Just don't have to eat them.
Razzberry, you're on. Set 'em up.
I learn so much from all of you! Good research, drdad!
Here is a comment from "seattle john". He misplaced it on Monday's Comments section.
IS AN ARK A SHIP OR A BOAT?
C.C. - it's defined as a 'boat' in reference works.
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