Theme: The Pains of Parenthood
18A: Start of a quip: IT IS HARD TO
27A: Part 2 of quip: RAISE A FAMILY
44A: Part 3 of quip: ESPECIALLY IN
59A: End of quip: THE MORNING
Also an avian sub-theme:
32A: Everglades wader: EGRET
31D: Extinct bird: MOA. It's native to New Zealand and extinct at the end of 18th century. Daunting size. Those Maoris look fearless though
38D: Bird of prey: RAPTOR
Don't you wish there is a TURKEY somewhere in the middle of the grid? I was rather disappointed by the theme. Was expecting a puzzle stuffed with cranberry sauce, green beans and apple pies.
My husband has to have rutabaga and wild rice for Thanksgiving. What's on your table today?
Easy puzzle. Nothing to rave about.
Across:
1A: By way of, briefly: THRU. Did you notice that there are always more consonants in the first row and the first column? I suppose most of the languages start with consonants. Should you have extra time, you can count the total vowels in today's grid. They normally take up 50% of the total fills.
21A: Italian noble: CONTE. I don't understand this one, is it Italian for "Count"?
25A: Planets: WORLDS. I was thinking of EARTHS.
42A: Eagles hit, "___ it Easy": TAKE. I guessed. Not familiar with this song.
43A: Trunk artery: AORTA. Crossword constructors love A*A: ATRA (Gillette razor); ASTA (The Thin Man dog); ASTRA (Latin stars); ATRIA (Skylit courts); ALTRIA (Parent company of Kraft Foods), ALCOA, Jessica ALBA, ABBA, ASIA, ASEA, etc. Oh, don't forget Barry Silk's AQUA.
50A: Skidded: SLID. I don't like those letter repetitions. "Lost traction" would be fine.
51A: Woman alone on stage: SOLA. "Man alone on stage" is SOLUS.
52A: Actor Davis: OSSIE. Only know him as Ruby Dee's husband. Have no idea what film he was in.
61A: Mine entrance: ADIT. And ORE (60D: Mine find).
62A: Trevanian's "The ___ Sanction": EIGER. I forgot. Saw this clue before. Have you seen the film?
63A: Utah ski resort: ALTA. Another A*A word.
65A: "Charlie's Angels" co-star: DOYLE (David). I guessed. I only know the new "Charlie's Angels".
Down:
2D: Cup on a green: HOLE. Have any of you shot HOLE-in-one before?
3D: Pride signal: ROAR. Good clue. A pride of Lion. I also like the clue for ADAM (56D: First grandfather).
7D: Land of Blarney and Killarney: ERIN. Killarney is foreign to me. What is it famous for? Another stone?
9D: Reggae's cousin: SKA
10D: Charging shout: WAR CRY
11D: "Rush, Rush" singer Paula: ABDUL. Here is the song. ABDUL means "servant of the..." in Arabic.
19D: Doing a hatchet job?: HEWING
29D: Former Curtain: IRON. I like this clue too. IRON Curtain sounds very ancient now, doesn't it?
40D: Type of type: BOLDFACE
42D: "The Waste Land" auth.: TSE. Good. I've had enough "Half African fly".
44D: Glossy paint: ENAMEL
45D: Digs: IS INTO
46D: Sour brew: ALEGAR. Got this word from across fills.
47D: You in Juarez: USTED. I am surprised that the clue is not "You in Yucatan". Our editor loves alliteration.
48D: Rockefeller's 1870 company: SOHIO (Standard Oil of Ohio). Now BP. I googled this one.
49D: Lyric lamentation: ELEGY
57D: Unless, in law: NISI. Learned from doing Xword. I've never seen NISI used in any newspaper or magazine.
Happy Thanksgiving!
C.C.
18A: Start of a quip: IT IS HARD TO
27A: Part 2 of quip: RAISE A FAMILY
44A: Part 3 of quip: ESPECIALLY IN
59A: End of quip: THE MORNING
Also an avian sub-theme:
32A: Everglades wader: EGRET
31D: Extinct bird: MOA. It's native to New Zealand and extinct at the end of 18th century. Daunting size. Those Maoris look fearless though
38D: Bird of prey: RAPTOR
Don't you wish there is a TURKEY somewhere in the middle of the grid? I was rather disappointed by the theme. Was expecting a puzzle stuffed with cranberry sauce, green beans and apple pies.
My husband has to have rutabaga and wild rice for Thanksgiving. What's on your table today?
Easy puzzle. Nothing to rave about.
Across:
1A: By way of, briefly: THRU. Did you notice that there are always more consonants in the first row and the first column? I suppose most of the languages start with consonants. Should you have extra time, you can count the total vowels in today's grid. They normally take up 50% of the total fills.
21A: Italian noble: CONTE. I don't understand this one, is it Italian for "Count"?
25A: Planets: WORLDS. I was thinking of EARTHS.
42A: Eagles hit, "___ it Easy": TAKE. I guessed. Not familiar with this song.
43A: Trunk artery: AORTA. Crossword constructors love A*A: ATRA (Gillette razor); ASTA (The Thin Man dog); ASTRA (Latin stars); ATRIA (Skylit courts); ALTRIA (Parent company of Kraft Foods), ALCOA, Jessica ALBA, ABBA, ASIA, ASEA, etc. Oh, don't forget Barry Silk's AQUA.
50A: Skidded: SLID. I don't like those letter repetitions. "Lost traction" would be fine.
51A: Woman alone on stage: SOLA. "Man alone on stage" is SOLUS.
52A: Actor Davis: OSSIE. Only know him as Ruby Dee's husband. Have no idea what film he was in.
61A: Mine entrance: ADIT. And ORE (60D: Mine find).
62A: Trevanian's "The ___ Sanction": EIGER. I forgot. Saw this clue before. Have you seen the film?
63A: Utah ski resort: ALTA. Another A*A word.
65A: "Charlie's Angels" co-star: DOYLE (David). I guessed. I only know the new "Charlie's Angels".
Down:
2D: Cup on a green: HOLE. Have any of you shot HOLE-in-one before?
3D: Pride signal: ROAR. Good clue. A pride of Lion. I also like the clue for ADAM (56D: First grandfather).
7D: Land of Blarney and Killarney: ERIN. Killarney is foreign to me. What is it famous for? Another stone?
9D: Reggae's cousin: SKA
10D: Charging shout: WAR CRY
11D: "Rush, Rush" singer Paula: ABDUL. Here is the song. ABDUL means "servant of the..." in Arabic.
19D: Doing a hatchet job?: HEWING
29D: Former Curtain: IRON. I like this clue too. IRON Curtain sounds very ancient now, doesn't it?
40D: Type of type: BOLDFACE
42D: "The Waste Land" auth.: TSE. Good. I've had enough "Half African fly".
44D: Glossy paint: ENAMEL
45D: Digs: IS INTO
46D: Sour brew: ALEGAR. Got this word from across fills.
47D: You in Juarez: USTED. I am surprised that the clue is not "You in Yucatan". Our editor loves alliteration.
48D: Rockefeller's 1870 company: SOHIO (Standard Oil of Ohio). Now BP. I googled this one.
49D: Lyric lamentation: ELEGY
57D: Unless, in law: NISI. Learned from doing Xword. I've never seen NISI used in any newspaper or magazine.
Happy Thanksgiving!
C.C.
43 comments:
Martin,
I was disappointed by your "Spanish ta-ta" explanation. I asked you to make it poetic. Want to try a mulligan? Congratulations on Ian's "No deal".
Dick,
Do you have families in Germany?
Barry,
Is "chiches" pronounced like our "chicks"?
Calef,
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving with your friends.
28 minutes 30 seconds. Just awful.
I wanted FLOOD for SWAMP, THUS for THRU, EIRE for ERIN, DER for DAS and FALCON for RAPTOR. Unknowns for me were KABUL, SKA, CONTE, TSE (normally "Half a fly"), OSSIE, USTED, SOHIO, EIGER, ALTA and NISI. The quip also had me stumped and, for some reason, WAR CRY and CUED never came to me either.
I also forgot MOA. So, C.C., whta's on the menu for me tonight? More worms?
Martin
Dick,
Do you have families in Germany?
Just a usage note, C.C., we usually say "family" (singular) and not "families". What you meant to say was "relatives". "Families" (plural) is what you have if you are a bigamist and your wives don't know about each other, ie you have two distinct families. :)
Martin
Martin,
No worms today for your miss on MOA. I only want a subtle, beautifully written, poetic "Spanish ta-ta" explanation. Wow, what an interesting take on families! Do you have families in other part of the world then?
NYTanonimo,
Thanks for the list. I like "Sorry to hear that" a lot, very unexpected. You are far more imaginative. I could only think of Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth" yesterday morning.
Argyle,
You are such a productive Santa. I love bags of goodies you deliver to us every day.
Kazie,
You've cleared up a lot of my grammar confusions. Thank you. Do you know who designed that Point du Hoc statue and why he made it so DF?
Crockett,
Your plucking and eating mulberry while aloft comment brought back my childhood memories.
JD,
Thanks for the siren/"Odyssey". I thought only CIRCE appeared in it.
The JVN,
Now I think the WIS clue yesterday is rather clever. I am so happy to hear from you again.
Anonymous @2:50pm,
All our puzzles have themes except Saturday. They are normally long fills and are symmetrically placed in the grid. And of course, they share one common thread. You will find at least 3 theme entries for a Weekday 15*15 grid and at least 5 entries for a Sunday 21*21 grid.
Clear Ayes,
I cannot wait to see which poem you have saved for Valentine's Day.
Steve,
Good to see you comment regularly now.
Martin,
Did you read Richshif's 7:48pm message yesterday? Was he correct?
Barb B,
Are you going to see Melissa for Thanksgiving? Have not seen her for a while.
Dr. Dad,
You must have had a wild time in Louisville. You recovered much faster from your Mumbai trip.
Good morning CC etal,
Couple of googles, couple of oneacrosses, but overall not too bad. I'm not a big fan of unattributed quip/quote puzzles.
Mostly, though, I want all of you to know I am thankful for y'all today as a part of my extended family.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving,
I was also disappointed that today's puzzle wasn't turkey day related. Had a little trouble with the SW corner until I actually finished the quote.
We have a pretty normal menu for T-day. Some vegetable casseroles and 2 things that our particular to PA Dutch country. Copes corn is dried corn that you soak and then cook slowly. Gets rich and creamy. We also have potato filling which is not put into the turkey. You mash potatoes then add sauteed onions and celery and lightly browned croutons for the crunch. I'm sure everyone has their own food preferences in different parts of the country. My son is on his honeymoon in Hawaii; I wonder if they serve turkey with pineapple?
Have a wonderful day everyone.
Good morning, c.c. and gang, and a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Just when you think they can't get any easier, we get one like today. I really do need a 'hammer' more frequently or my brain turns to mush and I get just like....just like.....damn, it's happening already.
Yes, c.c., I've had a hole in one. I was fortunate enough to get through the windmill and past the clown's leg. And I've always been a fan of Clint Eastwood's - so yes, I saw Eiger Sanction.
Everyone, especially our former DFs and DFettes, have an outstanding and memorable Thanksgiving. Eat too much, drink too much and it's sure to be just that. And that's a good thing.
Morning, all! And Happy Thanksgiving!
Running a bit late this morning since I had to get the turkey prepared and in the oven. Now I can relax for a few hours before the guests start arriving. We'll be having mashed potatoes, cornbread & sausage stuffing, maple sweet potatoes, butternut squash and (hopefully) green bean casserole. I've never made green bean casserole before, hence the "hopefully".
Anyway, fairly easy puzzle for me today. The only unknowns were ALEGAR and SOLA. I'm a semi-professional singer and did some opera in college, but I've never heard the term SOLA (or SOLUM, for that matter) used before. As for ALEGAR, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess it's a mixture of ale and vinegar?
Oh -- and "chiches" is pronounced "chee chays." Just like it's spelled. ^_^ And CONTE is, indeed, the Italian word for Count.
We are going to our Chinese-Vietnamese friends for dinner so I'm not sure what's on the menu cc. One year we had duck. Whatever, it is always delicious. Had the more typical American fare last night with some other friends and it was wonderful too.
I did not know USTED or DOYLE and SOLA and SOLUM are new to me. Rest of the puzzle took me too long probably because I was having trouble "rising in the morning" today.
My best to all of you today too. One of the things I am thankful for is this blog and your company.
Martin,
Did you read Richshif's 7:48pm message yesterday? Was he correct?
sigh
Living in Taiwan, I miss the being able to tell a joke or otherwise try to be funny and be able to expect people to get in right away. When I make a joke and then have to explain it then it just isn't going to be funny. I can explain why I thought it was funny but it is never going to be funny to the person I explain it to.
Juxtaposition is a form of humour. I just had this image of Paul Anka going on stage right after ZZ Top. The look on his face would probably be saying "I think I'm at the wrong concert."
Ha. Ha ha ha. Ha.
No? Well then that's exactly what I mean.
It seems nobody eats turkey for dinner at home here in Taiwan but there are a lot of restaurants that offer turkay, say for example a slice of turkey with rice and vegetables. I imagine the turkeys are raised in Taiwan because importing the birds from the US would be a pain.
Martin
Good Morning All, Another Thursday, another quip. At least it was moderately amusing. I don't fault Alan Olschwang. It must be difficult to come up with 52 quips a year that will fit into a c/w grid.
So, toughies were ALEGAR and SOHIO. I'd never heard of USE NET, but everything worked out easily.
C.C. The Killarney area is known mainly for its beautiful scenery. Here's a photo of Ladies View. The Ring of Kerry 100+ mile drive starts (or ends) in the city of Killarney. It offers spectacular vistas of the greenest greens and bluest blues you'll ever see. I'm thankful that I had a chance to see it in person.
I've put our turkey in the oven and the rest of the guests will bring whatever suits their fancy. I used to try to orchestrate the whole thing and assign "who brings what", but I've found it works out just as well when everyone just brings what they want. So far, so good and we've never been stuck with just turkey and mashed potatoes.
Tomorrow we go to my sister's house for a couple of days. I'll check in when I get back.
Enjoy the day everyone.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I did this one on-line early this morning. I was stymied by 48D and was in error on 62A, so the SW corner was the last to fall, but all in all this was a doable puzzle.
Jeanette and I are going out for Thanksgiving dinner. This will be a first for us. It's billed as a buffet, so we should have a variety of goodies available.
I think CONTE is Italian for "count" (the title, that is). The opening to the old "Charlie's Angels" was very fun to watch.
Have a great T-day!
Mark - Buenos Aires
I always remember nisi from decree nisi, six weeks and a day before decree absolute, most commonly in a divorce.
The weather has not broken so we still have 100 degree heat. I play golf early to avoid the worst of the heat but I am truly drained by the end of the round. No, never had a hole in one.
Cryptic clue:
"gone mad carrying axes? Your life depends on it.
(6 letters)
Clue: "mad" denotes an anagram of "gone" with axes (plural of axis) inside.
many advertisements here for restaurants with traditional thanksgiving fare (Turkey with all the trimmings).
have a good time whereever you are.
Humor and satire are great things, and I use them frequently in my writing. But you have to consider your audience and realize that what you may think is funny, may not tickle the funny bone of others. For example, in Patrick Ruesse's "Turkey of the Year" column in this morning's paper, he depicted Sonja Pitt as the keynote speaker at the 'banquet'. I thought it was funny, but if you don't know who Sonja Pitt is, you would miss the humor. (She was the Minnesota Department of Transportation executive who elected to stay shacked up in Washington for 10 days after the
35W bridge fell into the Mississippi.)
But the short answer is that if you have to explain the humor in a joke, it probably wasn't too funny in the first place. Happy Thanksgiving everyone !!
@bomer Good to see you. Enjoy your rutabagas!
"Christmas in Killarney"
video with lyrics and a map
The video shows four lads pretending to get drunk but thier lip-syncing seems too perfect. They are not the Irish Rovers.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Hi C.C. and everyone.
According to a news item, Our brain tops out at forty years of age and then starts downhill. That being so, I must be back to minus zero!!
Anyway,this puzzle did me in but good. Too many boo boos to mention. I am in awe of most of you who breeze through and still looking for the "hammer".
C.C. my thanksgiving party had to be postponed one more day. I think its a "forty eight hour virus", but I'm beginning to feel better and looking forward to having a special dinner with family and friends.
Wishing all of you a happy holiday.
Vaya con Dios
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Nothing good to say about Olschwang's latest so I'll just say; Have a nice day!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Top half of the puzzle went very fast and came to a complete halt - I had so much trouble with the rest of it, I had to give up and look to C.C.'s answers, which never fail me. Thanks again C.C.!
What the heck is "usunet" about? I never heard it before. Same with "alegar" and "sohio". Always good to learn new words though. Just makes me feel less than clever.
@carol SOHIO was an abbreviation for Standard Oil of Ohio, and there were many gas/service stations with that brand name in Ohio when I was growing up, They eventually went away and became Standard stations.
May have no time to read or do c/w, but I wanted to wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.
Thank You
for all my hands can hold-
apples red,
and melons gold,
yellow corn
both ripe and sweet,
peas and beans
so good to eat!
Thank You
for all my eyes can see-
lovely sunlight,
field and tree,
white cloud boats
in sea-deep sky,
soaring bird
and butterfly.
Thank You
for all my ears can hear-
birds' song echoing
far and near,
songs of little
stream, big sea
cricket, bullfrog,
duck and bee!
(Ivy O. Eastwick)
@JD What a lovely poem. Thank you for taking the time to share with us!!
8:25 today. I'm at my sister's house in Bend, OR for Thanksgiving. Rest of the folks are watching Macy's Parade, which is of no interest to me so I'm on a strange computer doing crosswords. (I can't believe no one else in this family is interested in the football game---pah!)
@carol: It's USENET, not USUNET for 47a: Online newsgroup system. USENET news is well-known to long-time Internet users (it predated the World Wide Web by quite a few years).
Have a great and thankful day, everyone!
Embien and Crockett, thanks for the info!
I had ulegy for 49D - thought it was an odd spelling for the speech given at a memorial service.
I know I could have googled the words, but just didn't.
@carol We web-feet take care of our own!
A somewhat belated Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I was gone all day--a two hour each way drive to the rels in Marshfield for our meal: turkey, dressing, mashed spuds, broccoli casserole, squash, cranberry sauce, gravy, with pumpkin pie and cranberry bread as desserts.
Now I'm back, I have to say, I agree with the few of yu who didn't find this one easy. I got stuck on alegar, ossie, alta, usenet, is into. Hurrying and having no time to google was a factor too.
c.c.,
I can't find anything on the sculptor of the Pointe du Hoc monument (note I spelled pointe incorrectly yesterday). But I'd forgotten that the base is where the inscriptions are located. Try monument and scroll down until you get to it. Or the whole thing.
We're redoing a turkey meal at home Saturday, as our younger son will be able to come then--nothing like having your own leftover turkey!
c.c.,
On the question of solum, what I found in my Webster's is that it means a layer of soil, and because of its Latin form, the plural is sola. So it can't be related to solo, plural soli, which comes from the Italian, presumably because so much opera and music to be performed as a solo is Italian.
When I started looking it up, I knew the -um ending looked neuter, not masculine, but I thought it might refer to the actual song or performance rather than the performer, but from the dictionary's definition, I'd say our clue was wrong, unless Olschwang wanted sola as an adjective in the feminine form, rather than our normal usage of the noun "solo" morphed into a feminine noun.
sola – adjective Latin. (referring to a woman) alone; by oneself (used formerly in stage directions).
solus – adjective Latin. (referring to a man) alone; by oneself (used formerly in stage directions).
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Argyle,
Thanks. I guess it was an adjective then.
51A) Woman alone on stage - sola
It doesn't seem that the clue indicates an adjective. ?
51A: Woman alone on stage: SOLA.
"Man alone on stage" is SOLUM. Posted by C. C. at 5:30 AM on Nov 27, 2008
C.C. should have had solus
Too hard to do without help today, and kinda boring too. Oh well.
HAPPY THANkSGIVING EVERYONE!!!
Alas, I wasn’t able to spend it with MelissaBee - maybe next year. I spent the day with my sister and her grown kids. Traditional southern dinner; Turkey, cornbread dressing (no sausage) green bean casserole, candied sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, and many types of salads. We played scrabble before and afterwards, and that may have been the best part.
JD, I love your poem.
Yes, solus would be the Latin masculine form. Solus and sola would both be adjectives, but I read the clue as needing a noun. I think too the adjectives might be used as nouns in the sense of "the alone one". So, problem solved?
I'm giving thanks.
argyle, my friend, you're not alone...
Be thankful you didn't have my Sunday crossword (Glens Falls Post-Star, Nov. 23rd). I finally gave up and googled my way through it. Phew!
Theme: What They Said
22A) Doomsday, to Stanley Kunitz - "...the eighth day of the week."
42A) Worse than notoriety, to Wilde - "...not being talked about."
94A) Progress, to e.e. cummings - "...a comfortable disease."
117A) Ignorance, to George Chapman - "...the mother of admiration."
in the center
68A) Jack, Bobby and Teddy - three brothers
some of the clues...
city near Vladivotok - Artem
Dan Beard's org. - BSA
Hamlet - dorp
subpar purveyor of verse - poetaster
Little pool figure - steno
Tropical rodents - agoutis
Perfume ingredient - irone
Israeli or VT valley - Kedron
Brazilian peninsular state - Bahia
@jeannie Thanks. I've changed my pic for the season. Sorry, Argyle. SPLASH!
@dennis Just for the fun of actually getting together.
Have you guys done legal easy yet?
Is there anyplace to see these puzzles online or do you actually have to buy a paper?
Courtenay,
Yes, we solved "Legal Easy" last Sunday. The Sunday puzzle is not online anywhere. You can go to Chicago Tribune's website for the Monday to Saturday puzzles.
Thanks for letting me know about Legal Easy...which I did NOT find easy.
I am going on vacation for a few weeks, and the paper won't be available - I enjoy doing this puzzle , or rather, trying to do this puzzle once a week and am sad that I will have to leave it out of the holiday.
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