Theme: Great Direction - Films/plays directed by ELIZA KAZAN (123A: Born 9/7/1909, he directed the answers to starred clues), who would have been 100 years old tomorrow.
23A: *1947 Tony winning Arthur Miller play: ALL MY SONS. Not a familiar play to me. Strange marriage between Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe, who should not have left Joe DiMaggio.
28A: *With 113-Across, 1947 Tony-winning play starring Lee J. Cobb: DEATH OF A
113A: See 28-Across: SALESMAN. Arthur Miller play also.
42A: *With 45-Across, 1945 film based on a Betty Smith novel: A TREE GROWS
45A: See 42-Across: IN BROOKLYN. Have vaguely heard of the book. Nice left to right placement.
68A: *1947 Tennessee Williams play: A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE. Nailed it. Watched the Marlon Brando/Vivien Leigh movie. Quite heavy.
94A: *1955 film based on a Steinbeck novel: EAST OF EDEN. Great movie. James Dean played the explosive Cal.
97A: *1952 biopic starring Marlon Brando: VIVA ZAPATA. Senator John McCain's favorite movie.
A surprisingly fun puzzle. I went from "Oh no" to "Oh, wow!". What a finely constructed tribute puzzle.
Thought it would be hard when I read the first starred clue, but then "DEATH OF A SALESMAN"(perfect rotational symmetry), grid-spanning A STREET NAMED DESIRED, EAST OF EDEN & ELIA KAZAN (great to see his full name) all crumbled easily.
My favorite fill today is ZHIVAGO (98D: Title hero who married Tonya Gromeko). I just loved "the movie". Chief Justice John Roberts listed "Dr. Zhivago" & "North by Northwest" as his favorite movies. Julie Christie played the beautiful Lara, Zhivago's true love.
Across:
1A: Anabaptists, e.g.: SECT. Know Baptists, not Anabaptists.
9A: Philosopher William of __, known for his "razor": OCCAM. OCCAM's razor, law of succinctness, the simple, the better.
14A: Name on a WWII bomber: ENOLA. ENOLA Gay.
20A: Inter __: among others: ALIA. Sometimes the answer is ALII.
21A: "Moi": WHO ME. Not an ideal clue due to A MOI (78A: Mine, a Marseille).
25A: Go after, puppy style: NIP AT
26A: Static problem: CLING. And 35A: Sta-__: fabric softener: PUF. Obtained the answer from Down fills.
27A: Pinocchio's creator: GEPPETTO. I forgot. Last time STAR was clued as "Geppetoo wished on one".
30A: Cartoonist Keane: BIL. "The Family Circus" cartoonist.
33A: Alsace __: French region: LORRAINE. Quiche LORRAINE is from this region.
38A: Use up: EXHAUST. Wonderful answer.
53A: Crooked: ASKEW
57A: Boot add-ons: SPURS
58A: "__-haw!": YEE. Wanted HEE.
59A: Ivy League city: ITHACA. Cornell city.
65A: German pastries: STRUDELS. Yum! German for "eddy/whirlpool".
67A: Head, in slang: NOB. New to me. Knew noggin'/bean though.
75A: Patriotic women's org.: DAR. "Patriotic men's org" is SAR.
76A: Rats: STOOLIES
77A: Pantry concern: ANT. Not my concern. I've never seen an ANT in our kitchen. Fruit flies, yes.
81A: Disco guy on "The Simpsons": STU. Learned from doing Xword.
84A: Nine Inch Nails founder Reznor: TRENT. No idea. This guy is a musician who founded the Nine Inch Nails musical project.
88A: Auctioneer's word: GOING. Reminds me "the Red Violin", in which a precious red violin is being auctioned throughout the movie.
90A: Layer: HEN
91A: Greeted and seated: SAW IN. Then ADAGE is clued as "68D: Saw".
93A: Shankar's repertoire: RAGAS. The Hindu music. I penned in SITAR.
99A: Unlock, poetically: OPE
100A: "Yikes!": OMIGOSH
102A: Berlin article: DER. German "the". Sometimes it's DAS, as in Karl Marx's "Das Kapital".
103A: Sinuous comics villain: CATWOMAN. Here is Halle Berry's CATWOMAN.
108A: Flying Cloud et al: REOS. Got the answer from Down fills. Have never heard of REO Flying Cloud.
109A: Former comm. giant: ITT. I misinterpreted "comm." as "communist".
115A: Loner: MAVERICK
120A: Lyric poet: ODIST. Still don't understand the brouhaha over Dan Naddor's ODIC last time. It's a legit word.
122A: Praiseful hymn: PAEAN
124A: Sign with scales: LIBRA. Zodiac sign.
125A: Nicholas Gage memoir: ELENI. No idea. It's the Greek variation of the name Helen. Nicholas Gage is a Greek-American author. ELENI is his mother's name. I actually misread the clue as Nicolas Cage the actor.
126A: Artistic Chinese dynasty: MING. I don't really know why Pancho thinks MING Dynasty was "Artistic". I suppose he means MING Vase?
127A: Old king of rhyme: COLE. "Old King COLE".
129A: Pick up on: SENSE. Took me a while to "Pick up on" the answer.
130A: Longtime Yugoslav leader: TITO. He advocated neutral foreign policy during Cold War.
131A: Goofing off: IDLE
Down:
2D: First name in courtroom fiction: ERLE. ERLE Stanley Gardner.
3D: Cosby's "I Spy" costar: CULP. No idea. Have never heard of Robert CULP.
4D: Largo, e.g.: TEMPO. Stumped. Largo is slow TEMPO.
7D: Bolivian boy: NINO. The "Bolivian" is picked mainly because of alliteration I think.
8D: Lots of fun: GAS
9D: Sports negotiations side: OWNERS. The other side is PLAYERS.
10D: Tuscan red: CHIANTI. Oh, red wine. I thought the clue was asking for Italian word for "red" rosso, unknown to me anyway.
11D: Egyptian Christian: COPT. No, no, nope! I bet they suffer from religious discrimination.
12D: Menotti title lad: AMAHL "AMAHL and the Night Visitors".
13D: "Ditto": ME TOO
14D: Snail on la carte: ESCARGOT. People really eat everything. Dog meat is a delicacy in North China/Korea.
16D: African grassland grazer: ORIBI. Hi, buddy, what's your favorite breakfast?
17D: Red Square honoree: LENIN
18D: Reporter's slant: ANGLE
24D: Bow wood: YEW
29D: Cold, to Carlos: FRIO. New to me. What is Spanish for "hot"? Salma Hayek is very sexy.
32D: "Training Day" actor Ethan: HAWKE. Uma Thurman's ex-husband.
34D: Pharaohs' crosses: ANKHS (angk). Often confuse this word with SIKH (seek), both end with KH.
35D: They hang together: PALS. Nice clue.
36D: Lone Star State sch.: UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso). Trouble again.
37D: Haus wife: FRAU. Haus is German for "house".
39D: It precedes Yankee in the phonetic alphabet: XRAY. D'oh, NATO phonetic alphabet.
40D: Hornswoggle: HOSE. Hornswoggle is a new word to me, to swindle.
43D: Diamond flaw?: ERROR. Baseball diamond. Excellent clue.
46D: Book before Habakkuk: NAHUM. Nope. Not easy to remember either.
47D: Cutting edge: BLADE. Oh, literally.
49D: Sped: RACED
51D: "Like __, all tears ...": Hamlet: NIOBE. The Greek mythical crier. I know nothing about Hamlet, except "To be, or not to be". Yesterday we had OSRIC (Courtier in "Hamlet"), so easy to confuse him with YORICK the jester. "Alas, poor YORICK...".
54D: Courtroom expert, often: WITNESS
61D: "M*A*S*H" star: ALDA (Alan)
65D: Hindu honorifics: SRIS. Another alliteration.
66D: Nissan compact: SENTRA. I wonder what SENTRA means in Japanese.
69D: Pago Pago's nation: SAMOA. Lots of coconuts there.
70D: Un + deux: TROIS. One+two=Three.
71D: "Takin' it __ Streets": Doobie Brothers hit: TO THE. Here is the clip. Have never heard of the song before. It's a 1976 hit.
72D: Cut out the middle of: CORED. As an apple.
73D: Coeur d'__: Idaho: ALENE. Anyone from there?
74D: Guitar attachment: STRAP
81D: Sips' opposites: SWIGS. I think Americans eat/drink too fast.
82D: Record, nowadays: TIVO
83D: Some, in Seville: UNAS. French would be UNES.
87D: Ivan IV, for one: TSAR. Ivan the Terrible.
89D: Snap: GO POSTAL. Loved the answer.
92D: Orly lander: AVION. French for "plane". Par AVION.
95D: Disaster relief org.: FEMA
96D: 11th century conquerors: NORMANS. The Norman Conquest, 1066, led by Williams the Conqueror.
101D: Bad guy: MEANIE
103D: Becomes less angry, with "off": COOLS
105D: Navajo, e.g.: TRIBE. Jerome said the Navajo rug makers always weave a tiny flaw into their work to show humbleness.
106D: Suisse range: ALPES. French for "Alps". Here, Suisse is the French name of Switzerland.
107D: Author Zora __ Hurston: NEALE. No idea. She wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
110D: Shatner's "__ War": TEK. TEK is a drug.
111D: Actress Bingham or Lords: TRACI. Got the answer from Across fills. TRACI Bingham looks familiar. Wikipedia says TRACI Lords first achieved notoriety in porn movies.
115D: Mid 11th century year: MLII. 1052.
116D: "It __ over till it's over": Berra: AIN'T. Yogi also said "I really didn't say everything I said".
117D: Eddie Bauer competitor: IZOD. KQ loves Eddie Bauer.
118d: Summon: CALL
119D: "Trick" joint: KNEE. I liked the clue.
Answer Grid.
Should you have extra time today, have a try at Fred's Universal and Doug Peterson's CrosSynergy (Washington Post) puzzles.
And a warm welcome to Mary, Susie, Annette and all the new commenters. I hope you stay and play. It's fun!
C.C.
23A: *1947 Tony winning Arthur Miller play: ALL MY SONS. Not a familiar play to me. Strange marriage between Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe, who should not have left Joe DiMaggio.
28A: *With 113-Across, 1947 Tony-winning play starring Lee J. Cobb: DEATH OF A
113A: See 28-Across: SALESMAN. Arthur Miller play also.
42A: *With 45-Across, 1945 film based on a Betty Smith novel: A TREE GROWS
45A: See 42-Across: IN BROOKLYN. Have vaguely heard of the book. Nice left to right placement.
68A: *1947 Tennessee Williams play: A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE. Nailed it. Watched the Marlon Brando/Vivien Leigh movie. Quite heavy.
94A: *1955 film based on a Steinbeck novel: EAST OF EDEN. Great movie. James Dean played the explosive Cal.
97A: *1952 biopic starring Marlon Brando: VIVA ZAPATA. Senator John McCain's favorite movie.
A surprisingly fun puzzle. I went from "Oh no" to "Oh, wow!". What a finely constructed tribute puzzle.
Thought it would be hard when I read the first starred clue, but then "DEATH OF A SALESMAN"(perfect rotational symmetry), grid-spanning A STREET NAMED DESIRED, EAST OF EDEN & ELIA KAZAN (great to see his full name) all crumbled easily.
My favorite fill today is ZHIVAGO (98D: Title hero who married Tonya Gromeko). I just loved "the movie". Chief Justice John Roberts listed "Dr. Zhivago" & "North by Northwest" as his favorite movies. Julie Christie played the beautiful Lara, Zhivago's true love.
Across:
1A: Anabaptists, e.g.: SECT. Know Baptists, not Anabaptists.
9A: Philosopher William of __, known for his "razor": OCCAM. OCCAM's razor, law of succinctness, the simple, the better.
14A: Name on a WWII bomber: ENOLA. ENOLA Gay.
20A: Inter __: among others: ALIA. Sometimes the answer is ALII.
21A: "Moi": WHO ME. Not an ideal clue due to A MOI (78A: Mine, a Marseille).
25A: Go after, puppy style: NIP AT
26A: Static problem: CLING. And 35A: Sta-__: fabric softener: PUF. Obtained the answer from Down fills.
27A: Pinocchio's creator: GEPPETTO. I forgot. Last time STAR was clued as "Geppetoo wished on one".
30A: Cartoonist Keane: BIL. "The Family Circus" cartoonist.
33A: Alsace __: French region: LORRAINE. Quiche LORRAINE is from this region.
38A: Use up: EXHAUST. Wonderful answer.
53A: Crooked: ASKEW
57A: Boot add-ons: SPURS
58A: "__-haw!": YEE. Wanted HEE.
59A: Ivy League city: ITHACA. Cornell city.
65A: German pastries: STRUDELS. Yum! German for "eddy/whirlpool".
67A: Head, in slang: NOB. New to me. Knew noggin'/bean though.
75A: Patriotic women's org.: DAR. "Patriotic men's org" is SAR.
76A: Rats: STOOLIES
77A: Pantry concern: ANT. Not my concern. I've never seen an ANT in our kitchen. Fruit flies, yes.
81A: Disco guy on "The Simpsons": STU. Learned from doing Xword.
84A: Nine Inch Nails founder Reznor: TRENT. No idea. This guy is a musician who founded the Nine Inch Nails musical project.
88A: Auctioneer's word: GOING. Reminds me "the Red Violin", in which a precious red violin is being auctioned throughout the movie.
90A: Layer: HEN
91A: Greeted and seated: SAW IN. Then ADAGE is clued as "68D: Saw".
93A: Shankar's repertoire: RAGAS. The Hindu music. I penned in SITAR.
99A: Unlock, poetically: OPE
100A: "Yikes!": OMIGOSH
102A: Berlin article: DER. German "the". Sometimes it's DAS, as in Karl Marx's "Das Kapital".
103A: Sinuous comics villain: CATWOMAN. Here is Halle Berry's CATWOMAN.
108A: Flying Cloud et al: REOS. Got the answer from Down fills. Have never heard of REO Flying Cloud.
109A: Former comm. giant: ITT. I misinterpreted "comm." as "communist".
115A: Loner: MAVERICK
120A: Lyric poet: ODIST. Still don't understand the brouhaha over Dan Naddor's ODIC last time. It's a legit word.
122A: Praiseful hymn: PAEAN
124A: Sign with scales: LIBRA. Zodiac sign.
125A: Nicholas Gage memoir: ELENI. No idea. It's the Greek variation of the name Helen. Nicholas Gage is a Greek-American author. ELENI is his mother's name. I actually misread the clue as Nicolas Cage the actor.
126A: Artistic Chinese dynasty: MING. I don't really know why Pancho thinks MING Dynasty was "Artistic". I suppose he means MING Vase?
127A: Old king of rhyme: COLE. "Old King COLE".
129A: Pick up on: SENSE. Took me a while to "Pick up on" the answer.
130A: Longtime Yugoslav leader: TITO. He advocated neutral foreign policy during Cold War.
131A: Goofing off: IDLE
Down:
2D: First name in courtroom fiction: ERLE. ERLE Stanley Gardner.
3D: Cosby's "I Spy" costar: CULP. No idea. Have never heard of Robert CULP.
4D: Largo, e.g.: TEMPO. Stumped. Largo is slow TEMPO.
7D: Bolivian boy: NINO. The "Bolivian" is picked mainly because of alliteration I think.
8D: Lots of fun: GAS
9D: Sports negotiations side: OWNERS. The other side is PLAYERS.
10D: Tuscan red: CHIANTI. Oh, red wine. I thought the clue was asking for Italian word for "red" rosso, unknown to me anyway.
11D: Egyptian Christian: COPT. No, no, nope! I bet they suffer from religious discrimination.
12D: Menotti title lad: AMAHL "AMAHL and the Night Visitors".
13D: "Ditto": ME TOO
14D: Snail on la carte: ESCARGOT. People really eat everything. Dog meat is a delicacy in North China/Korea.
16D: African grassland grazer: ORIBI. Hi, buddy, what's your favorite breakfast?
17D: Red Square honoree: LENIN
18D: Reporter's slant: ANGLE
24D: Bow wood: YEW
29D: Cold, to Carlos: FRIO. New to me. What is Spanish for "hot"? Salma Hayek is very sexy.
32D: "Training Day" actor Ethan: HAWKE. Uma Thurman's ex-husband.
34D: Pharaohs' crosses: ANKHS (angk). Often confuse this word with SIKH (seek), both end with KH.
35D: They hang together: PALS. Nice clue.
36D: Lone Star State sch.: UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso). Trouble again.
37D: Haus wife: FRAU. Haus is German for "house".
39D: It precedes Yankee in the phonetic alphabet: XRAY. D'oh, NATO phonetic alphabet.
40D: Hornswoggle: HOSE. Hornswoggle is a new word to me, to swindle.
43D: Diamond flaw?: ERROR. Baseball diamond. Excellent clue.
46D: Book before Habakkuk: NAHUM. Nope. Not easy to remember either.
47D: Cutting edge: BLADE. Oh, literally.
49D: Sped: RACED
51D: "Like __, all tears ...": Hamlet: NIOBE. The Greek mythical crier. I know nothing about Hamlet, except "To be, or not to be". Yesterday we had OSRIC (Courtier in "Hamlet"), so easy to confuse him with YORICK the jester. "Alas, poor YORICK...".
54D: Courtroom expert, often: WITNESS
61D: "M*A*S*H" star: ALDA (Alan)
65D: Hindu honorifics: SRIS. Another alliteration.
66D: Nissan compact: SENTRA. I wonder what SENTRA means in Japanese.
69D: Pago Pago's nation: SAMOA. Lots of coconuts there.
70D: Un + deux: TROIS. One+two=Three.
71D: "Takin' it __ Streets": Doobie Brothers hit: TO THE. Here is the clip. Have never heard of the song before. It's a 1976 hit.
72D: Cut out the middle of: CORED. As an apple.
73D: Coeur d'__: Idaho: ALENE. Anyone from there?
74D: Guitar attachment: STRAP
81D: Sips' opposites: SWIGS. I think Americans eat/drink too fast.
82D: Record, nowadays: TIVO
83D: Some, in Seville: UNAS. French would be UNES.
87D: Ivan IV, for one: TSAR. Ivan the Terrible.
89D: Snap: GO POSTAL. Loved the answer.
92D: Orly lander: AVION. French for "plane". Par AVION.
95D: Disaster relief org.: FEMA
96D: 11th century conquerors: NORMANS. The Norman Conquest, 1066, led by Williams the Conqueror.
101D: Bad guy: MEANIE
103D: Becomes less angry, with "off": COOLS
105D: Navajo, e.g.: TRIBE. Jerome said the Navajo rug makers always weave a tiny flaw into their work to show humbleness.
106D: Suisse range: ALPES. French for "Alps". Here, Suisse is the French name of Switzerland.
107D: Author Zora __ Hurston: NEALE. No idea. She wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
110D: Shatner's "__ War": TEK. TEK is a drug.
111D: Actress Bingham or Lords: TRACI. Got the answer from Across fills. TRACI Bingham looks familiar. Wikipedia says TRACI Lords first achieved notoriety in porn movies.
115D: Mid 11th century year: MLII. 1052.
116D: "It __ over till it's over": Berra: AIN'T. Yogi also said "I really didn't say everything I said".
117D: Eddie Bauer competitor: IZOD. KQ loves Eddie Bauer.
118d: Summon: CALL
119D: "Trick" joint: KNEE. I liked the clue.
Answer Grid.
Should you have extra time today, have a try at Fred's Universal and Doug Peterson's CrosSynergy (Washington Post) puzzles.
And a warm welcome to Mary, Susie, Annette and all the new commenters. I hope you stay and play. It's fun!
C.C.
42 comments:
Good morning, C.C. and gang - just a brief post while I try to recover from yesterday's parties.
I agree with C.C., this was an excellent tribute puzzle, and I was able to get through it without any outside help, but with plenty of perpassists. I too misread 125A as 'Nicolas Cage'. And as always, loved the long fills, especially the '21er' in the middle.
C.C., some great pictures today; thanks.
Welcome, Annette, thanks for coming out of the shadows and adding to the fun.
Off to lay on the dock and continue recovery.
Morning, All! A fun puzzle today. I loved searching for the movie clues. I have only seen a small handful of these films, however.
Nate "Tiny" Archibald used to play for the Celtics. He was called "Tiny" because he was only 6'1".
In many parts of the country, the Disaster Relief Organization (95A) is considered a 4-letter word: FEMA.
Seeing the 11th Century Conquers (96D) was nice, since we recently had William the Conquer's year in roman numerals.
With today's puzzle, I can scratch a name off tomorrow's birthday list, other than to tell you that Kazan was controversial after testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s.
Favorite clue: Boots add-on: SPURS.
September 6 Birthdays:
1947 ~ Jane “You Ignorant Slut” Curtain
1928 ~ Robert M. Pirsig, Author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
1888 ~ Joseph P. Kennedy (d. 1969)
1860 ~ Jane Addams (d. 1935), American social worker and winner of Nobel Peace Prize(1931).
1757 ~ Marquis de Lafayette (d. 1834), French statesman and major player in the American Revolution. Many schools in Louisiana are named after Lafayette.
1729 ~ Moses Mendelssohn (d. 1786), German philosopher and grandfather of Felix. His work lead to the Haskalah movement (Jewish Enlightenment) renaissance of German Jews.
1666 ~ Ivan V of Russia (d. 1696)
QOD: Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~ Mark Twain.
Morning, all!
Pretty straightforward puzzle, helped in large part by the fact that I am familiar with all the theme answers and was able to fill them in with only a few crossings.
I wasn't crazy about IGN as an abbreviation for "Ignition" (does anybody actually abbreviate it this way?) and doubt you'd ever see TETS or SRIS out in the wild anywhere. But still, that's a minimum of crappy fill in an otherwise solid puzzle.
The only places I got momentarily hung up today were at CATWOMAN (I was thinking more snakelike than feline for "Sinuous") and OHMIGOSH (I put OHMYGOSH in on my first pass and that single mistake kept me from getting the "Tada!" at the end until I could track it down). OHMIGOSH just looks wrong to me, but that's OK.
I still loathe ODIC, btw, but ODIST didn't bother me at all. Go figure...
Thought you would all find this interesting. In the Detroit Free Press today there was a column about some changes in the paper as a result of reader feedback. It states the paper had changed to the LAT crossword and many readers love it. However, many want the Williams' puzzles back in the paper. Thus, Williams is coming out of retirement and starting Labor Day, readers will "see his new work." Both the LATs' and Williams' puzzles will be run Monday through Sat. On Sunday we get the Boston Globe puzzle and the N.Y. Times. In addition the Commuter puzzle will be added online throughout the week. They have to eliminate some other puzzles to run the two crosswords in the paper. Must have been some strong reader feedback for these changes to take place. K
BTW, 14A is ENOLA Gay (not Gray), named for the pilot's mother.
Fun puzzle, great blog.
Good morning all - I found this one a little easier than the usual Sunday. Very few googles as perps revealed most of the trickier clues.
Alternative definitions of FEMA shamelessly stolen from the internet:
F**k! Evacuate! Move on. Apply blame
F**k Every Minority in America
F**k Every Man and Animal
F**k Everything, Massive Anarchy
Few Emergencies Merit Attention
Flood Evacuation? Maybe After
Fearing Every Mass Attack
Federal Experts My Ass
Fumbling Every Major Attack
Federal Emergencies Managed Atrociously
Funneling Everyone's Money Away
Federal Excuse-Making Agency
Finally Evaluating Messy Aftermath
Failure to Effectively Manage Anything (personal favorite)
Flood Event Maims Administration
Foreseeable Election Matter Already
Failure Eventually Means Asskicking
I guess you appreciate the humor if you've had to deal with them.
Hope all have a fine Sunday
Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments yesterday. I appreciated them.
Martin
Hola a todos!
This puzzle was a pleasant surprise. Movie or play themes usually are pretty daunting, but I had little trouble with this one. The only place I had trouble was at the intersection of Neale, Paean, and Eleni. Not too bad for a Sunday.
Surprisingly, it took me awhile to parse "Go Postal". Having worked for the Post Office for most of my life you would think this would have been a gimme.
c.c. Hot in Spanish is caliente.
Time to start on The Oregonian's x/w offering. Hope you all have a great long weekend. Adios
Caliente is Spanish for hot
Good Morning(it is morning, right?),
I guess I'd better get my eye exam scheduled; I read Nicholas Gage as Nicolas Cage untill I read C.C.'s comments. LMAO (but that's not funny!)
Good puzzle today. I had about two or three areas that I struggled with the entire way through, but completed most of it without help. I too liked the theme.
CC you amaze me with all the little facts that you remember about prior puzzles, how a fill was last clued, and all the bloggers quirks and favorite things. My brain is way past remembering all that stuff. You really make it a superb blog.
Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend. Dennis appears to be. Did Fred's puzzle online too. I was expecting it to be a Sunday version also, but wasn't, so was able to complete it lickety split. Well done Fred.
Good Sunday morning C.C. and all,
I did pretty well for naming a bunch of movies I've never seen. Actually my dad took me to see Dr. ZHIVAGO in 1965.
Finally looked up VIVA of VIVAZAPATO. I had gulps instead of SWIGS and algo instead of UNAS. I knew Ravi Shankar played the sitar, but definitely needed the perps to get to RAGAS. Ready for next time.
I used a Hamlet quote website to get to NIOBE, the b of NOB wasn't clicking for my head.
It wasn't until I read C.C.'s answers that I realized I had skipped the cross of OCCAM and COPT, two unknowns to me.
Practicing my new linking skills, here's another link to Crockett's Map.
Good Morning All, I'm a big fan of Elia Kazan movies, so I was very pleased when the fills started to take shape. With the exception of ALL MY SONS, all the theme fills went right down on the grid without a second thought.
Kazan made some truly memorable movies. It is difficult to say which one is a favorite for me. On The Waterfront has to be right up at the top of the list.
Just because he made wonderful movies, doesn't excuse his testimony at the HUAC in 1952. He later apologized (kind of). I wonder how any of us would respond, under the kind of pressure that was put upon the witnesses? I have some clear memories of that time. It was very scary.
Back to the puzzle. I loved the showbiz names, CULP, HAWKE, LEONI, ALDA and TRACI. ELENI is a favorite movie for GAH, "The Doobies" were big favorites of mine, so "Takin' It TO THE Streets" was a gimmee too.
I liked the très French crossing of ESCARGOT and LORRAINE. I like both snails and quiche.
On the other hand, I can never seem to remember UTEP. I didn't like the double use of MOI either.
NAHUM, NATE and NEALE had to be perped. Maybe I just need to make a bigger effort on words starting with N.
Mary,
Great job on getting the links in. CC has a sidebar on the home page to all kinds of things, including how to make links. I just bookmarked this page, and whenever I want to do a link, I go to that page and copy the code. I find it fastest this way. You probably remember it though, which is much better. She also has a link to Crockett's map on that sidebar as well as lots of other fun stuff. Try it out and see.
Quick check in as I have to go finish getting things ready for a brunch for 16 people...been a busy and enjoying weekend. Baked 2 Quiche Lorraines(Julia's recipe, of course) last night to take with us up into the redwoods to see a fabulous production of As You Like it. It was hysterical to see the sheep on wheels that my my husband and I built years ago for the original production still in fine fettle. They named it D'Artagnan and have apparently kept it carefully stored all these years...( there are several shepherd/shepardess scenes)...LOL.
Great puzzle, and do-able. Started it late last night and finished it up this morning. Got every single play reference and Elia Kazan had the same N word hang-ups as CA and really liked the connection between WHO ME and ME TOO. No real unknowns but the same misread on GAGE/CAGE.
Well...its time to get cooking again and I still have a dinner to do for this evening...*sigh*
ODIST..I had to think of William Wordsworth again. He ties in nicely with today's Elia Kazan tribute. Kazan's 1961 movie, Splendor In The Grass was based on a story by Williams Inge. It is one of my favorites, just because Warren Beatty, in his first movie role, was so totally gorgeous
The title was taken from a long Wordsworth ode. I'm posting only the tenth stanza of the poem which refers to "the hour of splendour in the grass".
Ode: Intimations Of Immortality From Recollections Of Early Childhood
Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song!
And let the young Lambs bound
As to the tabor's sound!
We in thought will join your throng,
Ye that pipe and ye that play,
Ye that through your hearts to-day
Feel the gladness of the May!
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
Traci Lords got her start in porn movies when she was 15 years old and going to high school in Redondo Beach, a couple of miles south of here.
Have a good Labor Day weekend everybody!
19:33 today. I suppose about average for a Sunday puzzle for me (maybe a bit fast).
I'm glad so many of you enjoyed this puzzle, because I hated, hated, hated it. I know nothing about Broadway plays, haven't seen any of those movies, and have barely heard of ELIA KAZAN. The latter was made even worse for me because I persist in thinking the Shatner movie is spelled TEC War. I get it wrong each and every time. Every time.
So there I am, staring at a filled-in grid, one full of names, and not getting the "ta-da" so I know something is wrong. But what? I know it has to be in one of the names, but... Finally I see the offending ELIA CAZAN and my feeble brain senses something amiss there. When I correct the C to a K I get the "ta-da" and simultaneously (barely) recognize the name KAZAN and remember that once again I've got the Shatner movie name embedded incorrectly in my synapses. Woe is me. I'm gonna go off in a corner and pull a NIOBE (weeping).
And, oh yeah, I didn't much care for this puzzle. It brought a clumsy conclusion to what had been a solid week of glorious puzzles. I'm happy for those of you who enjoyed it, but I'm not in that camp. I did have a nice CHIANTI at dinner last night, so there's something.
Arrrgh! I can't even get the wine right. It wasn't a CHIANTI, it was a Barbera d'Alba (Ruvei 2006). A pretty nice wine and a spectacular price.
Back to my snit now. Maybe I'll be in a better mood after my crab and shrimp louis salad I'll be having for breakfast in an hour or so.
Good afternoon everyone.
This one was fun, but I had to come here for quite a few. I just do what I can, go back and check, and then come here.
I didn't get or like "saw in". It seems a strange way of expressing the clue.
When I visited a family in Cairo, they were Copt. And the lady of the house took us to the Coptic church, cemetery, and museum. It was fascinating.
Martin, it was great to see you and Imelda.
Cheers.
Well, while I was recovering on the dock, I managed to knock out a Merle, a DougP, a Fred and an Ashish, for a total of five today! Maybe there's something to those "Captain" commercials after all...
embien, sounds like the crab breakfast is appropriate, huh?
Quick comment, back later to talk shop...
Embien; Remember being told as a kid "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"? My reaction then was to think "What? So I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut for the rest of my life?" lol
I liked the puzzle because I am a movie buff, but if the theme had been opera or baseball stadiums I would have been kicking up a storm!
Barely related: Asked a couple really smart neuroscience people why/how walking away from a puzzle and coming back seems to help, but they really don't know......darn.
embien, you should do Fred's puzzle, it will get you feeling better.
Fred, loved the puzzle. From the tone of the cluing, am I right in thinking that you didn't have much editor tinkering with the clues.
Fun and easy; they don't always go together.
Hi C.C. & gang, an enjoyable puzzle today, we only cheated a little. Ruth knew almost all of the famous book names turned into plays,
Here's more information on a 1936 REO Flying Cloud
I originally thought that that might have been a reference to a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud since I didn't know any REO model names.
Embien,
I empathize with you. I also hated all the names today. Got them all eventually via guesses, perps and red letters, but it definitely wasn't fun.
c.c.,
"some" in French is not unes--that doesn't exist. It's "des", or "quelques".
I've never heard of IZOD, OCCAM, GEPPETTO, BIL KEANE, NOB for head, TRENT Reznor, REO, UTEP, ANKHS, TEA LEONI, NEALE, TEK or ELENI. Didn't understand OWNERS as a sports side. Should be easy to see why it was no fun. When you don't understand the clue or the answer, there's no satisfaction in chasing the red letters till one shows up black, and since it took 40 minutes anyway, there certainly wasn't time to g'spot the ones that could have been found that way. When one is disinterested or has no opportunity to see plays, sports and other "trivia" items, there is no motivation to treat it as a learning experience.
Argyle, you're right, Fred's was a lot of fun. Particularly liked 'Pay to hold hands' and 'Beetle juice'. With Doug's, I thought 'Pool items' and 'Citizen in a company' were both great. I found all five most enjoyable, but I'm probably just dumb enough to be easily pleased.
Good morning CC and all,
CC, you are amazing! I really struggled with this one, but almost completed it.I couldn't fill reos, eleni, sense, saw in or paean (had psalm), so that little area was up to you :) and, omigosh, you did it!I had strudels spelled strusels, so blase was a weird answer.Nog sounds better than nob and I'm sure Niobe would not mind the name change.
Had to think awhile why maverick was clued as a loner.
(2008)Sat. Night Live
Sarah Palin: Ya know, John McCain and I, we're a couple of mavericks, and gosh darn it, we're gonna take that maverick energy right to Washington and we're gonna use it to fix this financial crisis and everything else that's plaguin' this great country of ours.
Gwen Ifill: [pause] How will you solve the financial crisis being a maverick?
Sarah Palin: Ya know, we're gonna take every aspect of the crisis and look at it, and then we're gonna ask ourselves, "what would a maverick do in this situation?" And then, ya know, we'll do that.
CA, I agree with you about that being a scary time, a time of mystery, suspicion and secrecy.As a kid I never really understood it, but along with the "under the desk" drills, I knew it wasn't good.Elia Kazan's movies were among my favorite, probably because of the actors. I can still picture Natalie Wood reading that poem; at that moment I fell in love with poetry.
Kazie said: I've never heard of IZOD, OCCAM, GEPPETTO, BIL KEANE, NOB for head, TRENT Reznor, REO, UTEP, ANKHS, TEA LEONI, NEALE, TEK or ELENI. Didn't understand OWNERS as a sports side. Should be easy to see why it was no fun.
Like you, I didn't enjoy this puzzle as much as some others did. I never got into a rhythm. OCCAM's Razor says that the simplest explanation is best. GEPPETTO was the woodcarver who created Pinocchio. In a professional sports dispute, there's the OWNERS side and the players side.
They don't use the little guy anymore, but maybe this label will jog some memories.
Bill G and Argyle,
Thanks for the explanations and link. I know of Lacoste, of course, but didn't ever see the Izod thing with it. It may have come up here before too, but my memory ain't what it used to be!
c.c., Right after my last post, I realized that "unes" is sometimes used together with "quelques"--quelques-un(e)s means some when you are singling out a few of a particular item. But never alone to mean "some".
I just did Fred's puzzle in 16 minutes, only using red letters twice, and found it thoroughly enjoyable. I didn't fully groc the theme as soon as I should have--missing the fact that the beginning and end made the full name each time. I think it was the third one before I saw that. Maybe trying to hurry too much. But it made up for the other one today!
Andrea,
Dot emailed me, and left you a message at the Brasserie website. Let us hear if you can swing another time after September 15th.
Hey Gang -
This time the puzzle got me.
Woohoo! Inge just hit a grand slam. Tigers up 5-3 on Tampa. Polanco followed up with a triple. Only one out in the 9th! ChiSox are down 3-0 to Boston.
OK, back to the puzzle. Not a huge loss, but, like the Mud Hens, I fell behing, and couldn't pull it out in the end. Do like the theme. Wanted the author of Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi, come to find out) not the gentle old wood carver.
I also misread Gage as Cage - even after C.C. mentioned it. I can be stubborn that way.
OMIGOSH?!? It's only spelt that way in Mickey Mouse comic books. A cheat IMHO.
While I'm crabbing (bear with me, sore back today) ODIC is a miserable excuse for a word. Sure it's legit, in the sense that you can find it in a dictionary somewhere, and you could contrive a sentence around it, if you were so inclined. But why would you ever need or want to? And do you suppose that anyone ever has. Is there anything one would ever compare to an ODE?
An ODIST, OTOH, is somebody who actually writes one. Not me, though. I'm insufficiently ODISTIC.
There. I feel better now.
Mor real time reporting. Tigers just won. SWEPT the Rays. Wow. AMOI team done good! BoSox CLING to a 3-0 lead in the 7th.
Cheers!
JzB the crabby basball reporting trombonist.
If you are easily offended, or do not think my words are appropriate for the blog, do not read! Or, so be it; I apologize in advance, but all the Izod talk reminded me of my favorite crocodile joke.
An homage...
A man walks into a bar with a pet crocodile by his side.
He puts the crocodile up on the bar, then turns to the astonished patrons.
'I'll make you a deal. I'll open this crocodile's mouth and place my manhood inside. Then the croc will close his mouth for one minute. Then he'll open his mouth and I'll remove my unit unscathed. In return for witnessing this spectacle, each of you will buy me a drink.'
The crowd murmured their approval.
The man stood up on the bar, dropped his trousers, and placed his member and related parts in the crocodile's open mouth.
The croc closed his mouth as the crowd gasped.
After a minute, the man grabbed a beer bottle and smacked the crocodile hard on the top of its head. The croc opened his mouth and the man removed his genitals unscathed as promised.
The crowd cheered, and the first of his free drinks was delivered.
The man stood up again and made another offer. 'I'll pay anyone $100 who's willing to give it a try.'
A hush fell over the crowd. After a while, a hand went up in the back of the bar. A blonde woman timidly spoke up..........'I'll try it - just don't hit me so hard with the beer bottle!'
Well, I'm not a blonde, but not all are willing to try their luck with a crocodile:
A lawyer boarded an airplane in New Orleans with a box of frozen crabs and asked a blonde stewardess to take care of them for him. She took the box and promised to put it in the crew's refrigerator.
He advised her that he was holding her personally responsible for them staying frozen, mentioning in a very haughty manner that he was a lawyer, and proceeded to rant at her about what would happen if she let them thaw out.
Needless to say, she was annoyed by his behavior.
Shortly before landing in New York, she used the intercom to announce to the entire cabin, "Would the gentleman who gave me the crabs in New Orleans, please raise your hand?"
Not one hand went up ... so she took them home and ate them.
Two lessons here:
1. Lawyers aren't as smart as they think they are.
2. Blondes aren't as dumb as most folks think .
LAST FRIDAY MY NAME WAS PAT.
I'VE CHANGED IT TO PATDAN...
A WOMAN'S PRIVILEGE!!!
THX
I admitted to being in a crabby mood from the puzzle. My crab louis for breakfast didn't improve things, as it happens. The restaurant had kept the lettuce at least one day too long and there was a screaming infant in the next booth over (one of my pet peeves--I know it's not always possible to keep the little ones subdued, but why subject other diners to their cacophony?).
I did enjoy Fred's puzzle, and Matt Gaffney's (still puzzled over the meta in that one), and Doug Peterson's (memo to Jazzbumpa, you may not like the last one as there is a certain word you don't like in it at 51A). Still working on the syndicated NY Times, as wife has commandeered the newspaper for the time being.
Maybe my mood will improve as wife and I are going to dinner and I'll be having steak au poivre and a nice bottle of Bonterra Merlot. I'm feeling better just thinking about it.
Lemonade, LOL, but you must be hoping that our resident blondes are busy elsewhere this weekend.
Kelev, I'm sure you have the thanks of blondes everywhere. :o)
OK. A Frenchman walks into a bar with a penguin on his shoulder. The penguin is wearing a black bow tie and a top hat. The bartender says, "Wow - I've never seen anything like that. Where did you get him?"
The penguin answers, "In France. There's millions of them over there."
Speaking of wine - or, rather, speaking and whining - whenever a nice Chianti is mentioned, I get a craving for fava beans.
Did this puzzle today, and the Boston Globe entry in the Freep. All puzzled out after that. So, I'm missing the other ones that were recommended.
Looking forward to our fantasy football draft tomorrow.
Cheers to all, and especially embien!
JzB the never-silent trombonist
@Argyle
You are right, the editor did very little tinkering with my clues in my Universal puzzle.
I'm glad everyone thought it was a fun puzzle because that was my goal. It's the type of puzzle I like to solve as a solver.
Fred, I enjoyed your puzzle. How many have you done for Universal? Is Timothy easy to work with?
I was curious about 19 A. The clue was periods. The answer was era. Is it OK that one was plural and the other singular? I'm trying to figure out this stuff.
Interesting: Barry G. mentions "doubt you'd ever see TETS or SRIS out in the wild anywhere". However, 2 different puzzles today had TET (or TETS) in it. What a coincidence for such a rarely seen word. The other was in our hardcopy newspaper. It had 39A clued as "Asian occasion". It was the Washington Post Magazine by Merle Reagle.
This reminds me of the trend mentioned a few times recently, where topics discussed here happen to appear in the next day's puzzle. This has happened to me at work a few times lately too.
Good evening all,
Nice puzzle Fred - a lot of fun.
My only mistake was wanting to start Xena with a Z. It was quickly corrected. I down loaded from the SF Chronicle. Then noticed that the Pittburgh paper also carried it.
I'm still working on Merl's.
eddyB.
Good evening! Anyone with a yard or a deck is throwing barbeques today. I was lucky to be invited to a few and twice got hit up to do a "little comedy." On the one hand, I really don't like to be caught off guard, and find it's incredibly awkward to have to figure out where and when to do it, because people may not want their conversations interrupted. Outdoors isn't a great place to be heard. Hard to know this about me but I don't love to be the center of attention. On the other mano, I have the material and it's nice to be asked. Working without a set time limit is fun--Three minutes, or seven if it goes well. So, I demurely agree about 75% of the time, and the host(s) get to do the intro, which means I'm not the only one squirming! (even if i help write it: "P__wants to tell a quick story....)
Almost always goes fine. Sometimes it leads to actual paid work when a fellow guest needs a speaker or help with a speech at work...tonight was no exception. Good food, too.
I wonder if Jerome gets cornered to build a puzzle at parties or if people greet WM at the door of potlucks with some watercolors and ask her to paint something "quick" between the dessert and the cheese course!? Or "ClearAyes, lovely to see you. Could you recite a few sonnets during after-dinner drinks on the veranda?" Or, "Elissa, how about a little Supreme Court gossip after the Chicken Dance?"
Sigh, I'll stop now.....
What, no group comments on 25A's perfect DF set up line of "Go after ...Puppy-style"? Wow! :-)
Enjoy your Monday!
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