Theme: QUIP
20A: Start of Zsa Zsa Gabor quip: I NEVER HATED A
37A: Part 2 of quip: MAN ENOUGH
42A: Part 3 of quip: TO GIVE HIM
56A: End of quip: DIAMONDS BACK
Yes, "diamonds are a girl's best friend". They never leave you, men do!
I was hot this morning, waves and waves of thrilling momentums thrusting me through the whole puzzle until I reached my ÉCLAT.
Made one careless mistake though. Put CUBIC instead of CUBIT for 1D, so my "Honor Thy Father" author became CALESE rather than TALESE, whom I actually heard of due to the controversy over James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" - a Nan TALESE imprint.
I like how these sparking words like STAR, OMEGA, FLAW, ELATE, FLORET, LASTS, TO A T and ÉCLAT are sprinkled in the whole grid, shining together with the DIAMONDS. Great stuff.
ACROSS:
1A: Good Hope or Mary: CAPE. Know Cape of Good Hope, but have never heard of Cape of Mary, where is it? (Update: I misread the clue, it's CAPE MAY, not CAPE MARY)
5A: Stable youngster: FOAL. Which is your pick for this year's Kentucky Derby? Colonel John also? How about Z Fortune?
9A: Musical syllables: TRA-LA
15A: Sorenstam's org: LPGA. Met her in person during 2002 Solheim Cup here in MN. Very cool!
17A: Nota __ (note well): BENE. Often in abbreviated N. B. form.
23A: "Honor Thy Father" author: TALESE (Gay)
25A: Money-managing exec.: CFO. How many CFOs have been put behind bars? Let me count: Andrew Fastow, Scott Sullivan, who else?
28A: Julie Andrews movie: STAR. I've never watched this movie before. Love her "The Sound of Music" though. Her memoir "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" right now is the #1 on NY Times bestsellers list I think.
31A: Start of a trip: SET OUT. There are 2 SET's (19A: ONSET and SET OUT) and 2 OUT's (SET OUT and 33D: OUTGO) in today's puzzle.
33A: Missouri feeder: OSAGE. Nailed it this time.
39A: Bruins' home: UCLA. Quite a few college sports teams in the US named Bruins, not to mention Bobby ORR's Bruins. Lots of BEARS, LIONS, and BULLDOGS.
44A: Early anesthetic: ETHER
49A: __ -pitch softball: SLO. What do you call Jamie Moyer's style of pitching then? Not SLO-pitch baseball?
51A: Lifts the spirits: ELATES
59A: Bird call: TWEET
62A: Mr. Knievel: EVEL. Daredevil indeed.
64A: Stock unit: SHARE
67A: Hit hard: POUND
68A: Confederate: ALLY
69A: Makes lace: TATS. Isn't strange that this verb TAT come from the noun TATTING? More often than not, English noun words come after the verb words, don't they?
DOWN:
1D: Biblical length: CUBIT
4D: Ecole attendee: ÉLÈVE. Surprisingly, most of the ÉLÈVE are very bien-élevé. Somehow they just morph into who they are today after they graduate.
5D: Bloom: FLORET
6D: Moonfish: OPAH
9D: Trampled: TRODDEN
10D: Barrett or Jaffe: RONA. Know Barrett, the "Just an inch" gossip columnist "Miss RONA". Have no idea who RONA Jaffe is.
25D: Doctor's request: COUGH. I like how COUGH intersects with AGUE.
26D: Bach work: FUGUE. No idea. I got it from the across clues.
29D: Indian nursemaid: AMAH. It's called AMAH in Hongkong too.
32D: Perfectly: TO A T
33D: Expenditures: OUTGO. Not OUTGOES?
38D: Jules Verne captain: NEMO. Or movie "Finding __".
40D: Inventor Nikola: TESLA. Here is more information about this inventor. Saw TESLA clued as "unit of magnetic flux density" before.
50D: Last letter: OMEGA. I want this OMEGA.
52D: Toward the stern: ABAFT. No idea. I figured it out by the across clues. OK, ABAFT comes from middle English "on baft", b is by, aft is toward the stern. Good.
53D: Indian drum: TABLA. I forgot. It's "a small drum or pair of drums of India tuned to different pitches and played with the hands". See this picture.
54D: Extraordinary brilliance: ÉCLAT. Yes indeed!
55D: Distorts: SKEWS
56D: Laura of "Jurassic Park": DERN. Have never seen any of her movies. Knew her only because of the Billy Bob Thornton & Angelina Jolie romance saga.
61D: The water of Paris: EAU. Why "the water"? Wouldn't that be EVIAN?
C.C.
20A: Start of Zsa Zsa Gabor quip: I NEVER HATED A
37A: Part 2 of quip: MAN ENOUGH
42A: Part 3 of quip: TO GIVE HIM
56A: End of quip: DIAMONDS BACK
Yes, "diamonds are a girl's best friend". They never leave you, men do!
I was hot this morning, waves and waves of thrilling momentums thrusting me through the whole puzzle until I reached my ÉCLAT.
Made one careless mistake though. Put CUBIC instead of CUBIT for 1D, so my "Honor Thy Father" author became CALESE rather than TALESE, whom I actually heard of due to the controversy over James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" - a Nan TALESE imprint.
I like how these sparking words like STAR, OMEGA, FLAW, ELATE, FLORET, LASTS, TO A T and ÉCLAT are sprinkled in the whole grid, shining together with the DIAMONDS. Great stuff.
ACROSS:
1A: Good Hope or Mary: CAPE. Know Cape of Good Hope, but have never heard of Cape of Mary, where is it? (Update: I misread the clue, it's CAPE MAY, not CAPE MARY)
5A: Stable youngster: FOAL. Which is your pick for this year's Kentucky Derby? Colonel John also? How about Z Fortune?
9A: Musical syllables: TRA-LA
15A: Sorenstam's org: LPGA. Met her in person during 2002 Solheim Cup here in MN. Very cool!
17A: Nota __ (note well): BENE. Often in abbreviated N. B. form.
23A: "Honor Thy Father" author: TALESE (Gay)
25A: Money-managing exec.: CFO. How many CFOs have been put behind bars? Let me count: Andrew Fastow, Scott Sullivan, who else?
28A: Julie Andrews movie: STAR. I've never watched this movie before. Love her "The Sound of Music" though. Her memoir "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" right now is the #1 on NY Times bestsellers list I think.
31A: Start of a trip: SET OUT. There are 2 SET's (19A: ONSET and SET OUT) and 2 OUT's (SET OUT and 33D: OUTGO) in today's puzzle.
33A: Missouri feeder: OSAGE. Nailed it this time.
39A: Bruins' home: UCLA. Quite a few college sports teams in the US named Bruins, not to mention Bobby ORR's Bruins. Lots of BEARS, LIONS, and BULLDOGS.
44A: Early anesthetic: ETHER
49A: __ -pitch softball: SLO. What do you call Jamie Moyer's style of pitching then? Not SLO-pitch baseball?
51A: Lifts the spirits: ELATES
59A: Bird call: TWEET
62A: Mr. Knievel: EVEL. Daredevil indeed.
64A: Stock unit: SHARE
67A: Hit hard: POUND
68A: Confederate: ALLY
69A: Makes lace: TATS. Isn't strange that this verb TAT come from the noun TATTING? More often than not, English noun words come after the verb words, don't they?
DOWN:
1D: Biblical length: CUBIT
4D: Ecole attendee: ÉLÈVE. Surprisingly, most of the ÉLÈVE are very bien-élevé. Somehow they just morph into who they are today after they graduate.
5D: Bloom: FLORET
6D: Moonfish: OPAH
9D: Trampled: TRODDEN
10D: Barrett or Jaffe: RONA. Know Barrett, the "Just an inch" gossip columnist "Miss RONA". Have no idea who RONA Jaffe is.
25D: Doctor's request: COUGH. I like how COUGH intersects with AGUE.
26D: Bach work: FUGUE. No idea. I got it from the across clues.
29D: Indian nursemaid: AMAH. It's called AMAH in Hongkong too.
32D: Perfectly: TO A T
33D: Expenditures: OUTGO. Not OUTGOES?
38D: Jules Verne captain: NEMO. Or movie "Finding __".
40D: Inventor Nikola: TESLA. Here is more information about this inventor. Saw TESLA clued as "unit of magnetic flux density" before.
50D: Last letter: OMEGA. I want this OMEGA.
52D: Toward the stern: ABAFT. No idea. I figured it out by the across clues. OK, ABAFT comes from middle English "on baft", b is by, aft is toward the stern. Good.
53D: Indian drum: TABLA. I forgot. It's "a small drum or pair of drums of India tuned to different pitches and played with the hands". See this picture.
54D: Extraordinary brilliance: ÉCLAT. Yes indeed!
55D: Distorts: SKEWS
56D: Laura of "Jurassic Park": DERN. Have never seen any of her movies. Knew her only because of the Billy Bob Thornton & Angelina Jolie romance saga.
61D: The water of Paris: EAU. Why "the water"? Wouldn't that be EVIAN?
C.C.
57 comments:
Good monring blogger friends. Today's Xword not too difficult, about ten minutes.For 33D I had costs which screwed up that section for awhile and I did not know 4D but it worked in from the other clues. Dennis I can't skate but I do have the same body as the YouTube skater LOL.
dick & CC,
I too breezed through this one. My problem was 5D initially, I had flower instead of floret which was giving me trouble on the start of the quip, but worked it out! Have a great day everyone!
Good morning, C.C. and gang.
Not too bad this morning - I thought this puzzle flowed well. Went blank on 'moonfish' for a bit, but the quip fixed that.
C.C., it's Cape May, not Mary, and it's here at the tip of New Jersey. Also, a fugue is a musical composition as well as a state of mind.
Dick, don't we all? And to those who emailed me last night, yes, it was a joke.
Make it an outstanding day; Friday's coming!
Good morning Dick, Kim & Dennis,
No complaints on 61D: EAU?
C.C., no, it is what you call 'the water' in Paris, right?
Dennis,
"Water of Paris" should be sufficient. "The water" points me to the EVIAN or other eau de minerale brands. I think the constructor got mixed up with the French L'EAU (f).
Anyway, if you clue 4D: ELEVE as "Ecole attendee", then 61 should be clued as "Water de Paris" for consistency, right?
C.C., now you're making my head hurt.
Good morning everyone. I wish I had more time to spend on the puzzle. I really goofed up the middle left corner. I did get "eau" for water! I also got eclat and cubit. I wanted 25A to be CPA, but the didn't work. 33D "out go"?????? Ok, whatever! I'll take one of those Omega's too CC. And the woman playing the Indian drums was very pretty. You always find the best pictures.
Hi to Kim, are you new on here? I don't remember seeing you before?
Have a good day everyone........off to work soon........
Good morning CC and company,
Not too bad this morning. Though, I wanted "start" for 19A, so that help me up a little bit. No idea about Rona Barret/Jaffe. I also was not thinking about college teams for the Bruins. Ah well. Finished without too many other issues.
CC - I see your issue with "The water of Paris", but "eau" works. Love "The Sound of Music" as well, my mother and I used to watch it together every year on TV while growing up.
Have a great day everyone!
Change Talesa in your answers to Talese or Floret doesn't work. Never heard of Floret. Nikolai Tesla - electromagnetism, proponent of AC (alternating current). Laura Dern, daughter of Bruce Dern, who was famous as "Longhair" who shot John Wayne (Wil Andersen) in the back in "The Cowboys."
Eau is French for water, plural is euaxo (the "o" has a line across the top of it, like a long o).
Nemo the clownfish is named after Captain Nemo.
Does an amah play a tabla to assist her in nursemaid tasks?
Happy May Day. May breakfast abounds in Rhode Island. Does anyone dance around the Maypole. Lois probably wants to with that You Tube skater Puschenko.
Good morning CC et al, This puzzle was a good one, flowed well and fell into place w/the perps, 10 mins. Loved the quote. Thought 25D was funny...different.
Dennis, Clydesdales are my favorite. They dwarf the Chipendales in every way! They are not only Big with muscles that have muscles, they are smart and gorgeous...plus and maybe more importantly, they also pull the Budweiser wagon. My kind of guys! You Rock!!!!
Bill, I'm prepared for drool today. Brought a bib! Was interrupted from watching that wonderful video by the Cable guy...company name? Cox, no lie. Played pool, the #2 ball, which is blue, got hung up in the table somehow. They just gave us a second one. Then went home and read more of my David Sedaris book, "Naked" and had a stiff drink. I'm over the edge and around the bend.
That book is hilarious and my team is in the play offs. Fun times!
Enjoy this beautiful day!
I'm going to have to get eau de cologne because of all the perspiration I'm getting from reading comments on eau. Dang Parisites anyway!!!! They are so Naive to try and sell us Evian (backward spelling).
dr dad,
I had no idea that Nemo the clownfish was named for Captain Nemo. But, thought the movie was cute, nonetheless.
Floret . . . I've never really heard it in regards to a "bloom" but more with vegetables, broccoli floret.
Can't say I'll be dancing around a maypole today. But when my pup and other dogs say hello on the street, it's inevitable that one or both of the owners will turn into a maypole w/the leashes wrapped around us.
Morning, folks!
Today's puzzles was pretty straightforward for me, although I got hung up with 5D for a bit until I realized it was "floret" and not "flower." The rest was smooth sailing, though.
Hey -- yesterday, people were talking about whether we did our puzzles in pencil or pen (I'm strictly a pencil guy, although it has to be a mechanical pencil on account of how hard I am on the leads). Anyway, it made me wonder what other rituals or idiosyncrasies folks might have regarding their daily crossword solving. For example, I cross off the clues as I solve them, but I have to cross the clue off before I actually fill the letters in the grid.
Anybody else have any interesting quirks?
drdad, I'll dance ANYWHERE with that skater...no problem...and after last night? I'll take a proxy!
lois: You shoot pool, to boot? I knew I liked you!
drdad: thought I was the only one who knew that Evian backwards is naive. Ok, so maybe I'm not THAT special. Darn it!
I'd be willing to bet that Lois will be dancing around the maypole today...
drdad, I never realized the backwards spelling; good stuff!
Lois, you are so funny, you crack me up!
Kim I also had flower for 5D but soon realized that it did not fit with 28A star. When 5A,15A, and 18A all fit with flower I knew I had it locked in and then Star would not work.
I now remember floret from broccoli and cauliflower. Thanks Mkatesq. I feel so naive.
Katherine,
Now, how can we get that beautiful OMEGA DIAMOND watch?
Mkat,
Yes, EAU does work. I just don't like the clunky clue.
Drdad,
Thanks for the information. I did not know that NEMO the clownfish is named after Captain NEMO. EAU's plural form is not EAUX?
Lois,
"NAKED". Naughty Naughty! Great piece!
Barry,
See the "Crossword Polls" sidebar on the front page? Have a look, you will find some interesting information regarding different solver' view on Pen/Pencil and some other preferences in crossword solving.
Katherine,
I am new here! I found the site about a month ago while searching for an answer. I love this site.
To CC,
I didn't have a problem with 61D because my across filled it in! Seeing it on perfume bottles for years sealed the deal!
To Barry,
I put my quirks out there yesterday, pen only and white out for the mistakes, but never touch the lines with the whiteout!
Not really bad...some roadblocks - like flower instead of floret. That stumped me till I got STAR. Finally it all came together.
Good for you Lois. Glad to see you're neat!!
CYA
CC. So I've been told. So far, so good.
Lois, I almost fell outta my chair. Blew me away.
C.C., there's an old saying regarding your comment on how to get the watch: Women get minks the same way minks get minks...
Dennis,
I've never heard of that saying. Educate me please!
Uh.....well....think about how minks make more minks. How's that? Lois, help me out here!
The well of sin is starting to fill up.
EAU
CC, "piece" has many colloquial meanings: ,it can refer to a rug or tupee, a gun of any sort, a work of art, or to a girl in a risque way.
Drdad,
"ō" is the pronunciation. The plural form of EAU is EAUX.
I stumbled a bit because I put "flower" instead of "floret" in 5D. This messed up the beginning of the quote. I had to finish the rest of the puzzle and then go back to this area once the rest of the quote revealed itself. Otherwise it was pretty much a breeze.
Today I am going to San Francisco to see Rick Wagoner speak at the Commonwealth Club. Rick is the Chairman and CEO of General Motors and he is talking about the "greening" of GM. It should be interesting.
Lois,
When I wrote down "Great Piece!" at 7:22am, I was only referring to David Sedaris' "Naked". I was not aware of the slang meaning of "piece" at all.
Mh,
Tell Wagoner I want that OMEGA watch. I'll be happy with the GREEN Speedmaster too.
Boy! Do I feel like a jerk. C.C. is right, I am WRONG. "les eaux" is waters according to my Alta Vista translator.
How did you get that long O symbol? I don't have it on any of my ASCII charts.
I hate being wrong. I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken. LOL
CC: no problem. Never thought otherwise. So was I :)
Good morning everyone. C.C., Cape May is in New Jersey. Income and Outgo -- nary a plural to be found there. Kim, same problem with 5D here as well. Barry, I used to cross out the clues, but stopped many moons ago -- took too much time, LOL! Lois, what a riot.
Well things are sure picking up around here. It used to be that I could make my comments and retire for the day. Now I have to check back or I miss something altogether. Like the youtube video from Melissa bee yesterday and the followup comments. Yikes do Dennis, Dick, Bill, Thomas, et.al. (note use of common xword) really have to do a Clydesdales video???
Anyway, CC, finally saw your message back to me from yesterday. By "balance" what I meant was that I like puzzles that are uniform in terms of difficulty. Of course, they can't be completely uniform but yesterdays was outside the norm in that the theme was supremely easy - you could fill them out first thing. Then some of the words were supremely difficult and obscure. I'd expect them to be in a Friday NYT crossword (or maybe even Sunday!). Anyway, maybe that's just the Libra in me coming out or the engineer. The structure was fine and, to be honest, until you started bringing up structure I hadn't paid much attention to it. I certainly agree that having a nice symmetrical word like celeb as the middle clue is great (even better if it were a palindrome!). And I did like all the crossings with similar context as you mentioned. Sorry to drag on like this.
I will say hello to Mr. Wagoner for you, but don't know much about his Omega watch or Green Speedmaster (is that one of those funny bathing suits?) - you must know him better than I ;-)
MH, No ice skates for me, pal. I might fall and hurt something I may need later in life... although what that would be I forgot!!
OH, wait..IT IS LATER IN LIFE.
Hi C.C. and all you wizards.
I have one question. to make better sense, should'nt the quote have read "to give (his) diamonds back"?
eau is water in French
jimbo, yes, absolutely.
Drdad,
"ō" is not on the ASCII code tables. I just went to your link and copied and pasted the sign. Don't feel bad about EAUX. There are bactéries in them. Let's have some Bordeaux wine, then we will find wisdom.
Crockett1947,
Why is 33D clued plurally then?
Mh,
Thanks for clarifying the "Balance" issue. I thought you meant "Grid Balance" when you said you disliked the puzzle, so I was confused.
No, no funny bathing suits! No DIAMONDS either. Only this simple GREEN Speedmaster. which is on sale now. Wagoner knows what I am talking about.
Jimbo,
This is a QUIP, not a QUOTE. This constructor Olschwang is known for twisting the original QUOTE to satisfy his GRID need. Zsa Zsa's original QUOTE is grammatically correct.
I got a late start on the puzzle today... it took me a lot longer than it should have.... I, too, had Flower for 5D which complicated the quote. I think JIMBO is right the quote was "..to give HIS diamonds back"... I notice with some quotes used on Thursdays that the constructor frequently changes the quote slightly to fit the need. Has anyone else ever notice this. ... It is particularly true of Evan Esar quotes.
Oh Lois, you should write a book! I started laughing out loud as I was reading your post. That wouldn't be a bad thing, except for the fact that I am sitting at Reception and supposed to be hard at work!
I had the same problem as everyone else; flower instead of floret. I always think of veggies when I hear foret, never a bloom. The Bruins' clue also stumped me. I am Canadian, so my mind goes to hockey, not UCLA!
Superfrey,
As I explained it to Jimbo at my 11:45am comment, the QUIP theme allows the constructor to slightly twist the original lines to harmonize his grid structure.
If the theme were QUOTE, then this would be a legit gripe.
Well, I went back to yesterday's comments and now understand the Chippendales vs. Clydesdales. What an interesting proposition. I don't know if Lois could handle it.
drdad: Oh ye of little faith, try me!
c.c. Thanks for clueing me in on the difference between "Quip" and "Quote"
drdad, I have a feeling you should be asking exactly the opposite re Lois.
afternoon all ..
was rushing through the puzzle today between patients but my 3:30 just cancelled so here i am ...
i liked this one, and chuckled at the quip although personally have little use for diamonds. i know i'm a girl and all, but i also dislike shopping so go figure. (get it? as in, figure SKATER?? would prefer a few ..er .. laps around the rinK than some silly diamond rinG. tee hee.)
eau i got right away but a better clue might have been 'water IN paris.' also got 'outgo' easily enough (expenditures go, while an expenditure goes) but was stumped by moonfish, ecole atttendee (had no idea) and bruins (was thinking boston).
crockett .. same here, when i first started doing crosswords i would methodically cross off clues as i solved, too lazy now i guess. my new crossword ritual is to start with a certain youtube viewing. it seems to stimulate brain cells.
mh, how was the talk?
lois that was quite a paragraph .. drool, cox, balls, blue, naked, stiff and bend. perhaps you should create a crossword puzzle with a theme.
Another mis-quote in the name of cruciverbalism. (Is that a word?)
Here is the actual quote.
I don't even bother solving any of the "quip" answers on Thursdays. I can usually work around them. But I do occsaionally use them to cross-check some of the other answers -- like floret instead of flower.
Aside from the mis-quip, nothing exciting today (5 minutes and 1 second).
Off topic (apologies) Rick Wagoner report. It was a good talk about the general health of the General and how much they are doing to save the environment. There was a (unscheduled) protest demonstration right in the middle of the presentation that was the most exciting part. Some people jumped up on their seats and demanded that GM sign an agreement to reduce petroleum usage to a certain level by 2012. They were hustled out by security and Wagoner made a very appropriate comment about how much he appreciated their passion. All in all pretty exciting with lots of press coverage and a good Q&A session following the talk. Keep your eyes on the GM-Volt - it appears that GM is committed to bringing this to fruition.
mkatesq: Ah, a fellow pool shark! I knew I liked you too. Tell me about your pool playing. I play pool for the APA and ranked a 4 of 7. I want to be at least a 5, but...there are these things called rules. Spoil all the fun!
Melissa bee: How funny! I agree about starting off with a certain youtube viewing and also find it stimulating...just not so much the brain cells. My oh My!!! As for creating a crossword? They probably wouldn't be able to print it, but it would be fun!
Fellas: about that dancing around the maypole today? Well, my take on this auspicious occasion is to entertain the man from Warsaw across the street.
Have a good night!
A l'eau, a l'eau???
eaux dear...could only think of making lace in Swedish (where a few stalwarts still do that for fun)...after reading all the comments here (took far longer than doing the puzzle btw) I'm ready for a delicious drink (eau de vie, anyone?)On an early flight this morning but tomorrow I hope to get here earlier..
eau de cologne also known as toilet water = probably not used by the winner of the Ortiz jersey
Happy 100th Day, Star Tribune Crossword Corner Blog.
200
C.C., don't think I've got an answer to your question. If expenditures is OUTGO, what is the equivalent for INCOME?
Horrible clues. All trivia. No substance. I could write a crossword puzzle too if all I asked for was names of sports figures. Horrible, horrible, horrible day for the presenters of this crossword puzzle.
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