Theme: Surprise Endings - The ending of each made-up film is an anagram of the last word of a well-known movie.
24A. Film about a soft-hearted creature?: TENDER IS THE THING. Thing/Night anagram. "Tender is the Night" is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
32A. Film about a computer supervisor?: LORD OF THE FILES. Files/Flies anagram. I've never heard of the novel "Lord of the Flies". It's written by British novelist William Golding, Nobel Literature winner 1983.
51A. Film about Los Angeles losing its NFL team?: A FAREWELL TO RAMS. Rams/Arms anagram. "A Farewell to Arms" is a novel by Hemingway. The Rams moved from LA to St. Louis in 1995. I faintly remember this trivia.
69A. Film about Broadway beginners?: WEST SIDE TYROS. Tyros/Story anagram. The musical "West Side Story". Tyro means "beginner".
87A. Film about Santa enjoying his holiday cigar?: A CHRISTMAS CLARO. Claro/Carol anagram. "A Christmas Carol" is a novel by Dickens. Claro is a mild cigar.
105. Film about a home run derby?: DAY OF THE CLOUTS. Clouts/Locust anagram. "The Day of the Locust" is a novel by Nathanael West. Another unknown to me. Shouldn't there be a "The" in the theme answer then? Clout is a powerful hit/home run in baseball.
116. Film about gardening options?: PLACES IN THE EARTH. Earth/Heart anagram. Not familiar the movie "Places in the Heart" either. Looks like a strong cast.
Very "Surprising Endings" indeed.
Did you grok the theme immediately? I did not until I got A CHRISTMAS CLAROL. Bollixed quite a few fill, but was able to solve the puzzle with mild cheating.
Always a great feeling to finish a Robert H. Wolfe puzzle. I tend to have difficulty getting into his wavelength.
Across:
1. Make __: match the scorecard, in golf: A PAR. And TEE (9D. Elevator on the links?). Links = golf course.
5. Little hooters: OWLETS
11. Two pages: LEAF. Oh my, I thought LEAF is only one page.
15. Second Greek letter: BETA. Alpha, beta and gamma.
19. Dieter's word: LITE. And CALORIE (43A. Heat measure). I connect CALORIE with food consumption rather than the heat it food produces.
21. Being, in old Rome: ESSE
22. Indiana senator Bayh: EVAN. Gimme. Senator Bayh (pronounced like by) is a Democrat.
23. Gangsters' guns: GATS. Or RODS. "Gangsters' girls" is MOLLS.
27. Studio sign: ON AIR
29. Chem., for one: SCI. Hated chemistry while in school. Had a very menacing teacher.
30. Chicago-to-Louisville dir.: SSE
31. Name on an armored truck: BRINKS. Wow, I've never paid attention to the name on those armoured truck.
36. Small surgical knife: LANCET. New to me. Rooted in Lance. SCALPEL is "Small surgical knife" too.
37. Landlocked Afr. land: ETH (Ethiopia). Two other African landlocked countries are Lesotho and Swaziland.
49. Certain Prot.: EPIS (Episcopal). Saw this abbreviation somewhere before.
58. Continue after a setback, as one's life: GET ON WITH
61. Jack-in-the-pulpit family: ARUM. Nailed it today.
62. Clean a spill: MOP UP
63. Poker action: RAISE
64. Scary film staple: MONSTER
67. Flat-topped rise: MESA. Also a city in Arizona.
68. Picture-taking word ending: CAM. As in webcam/skycam.
74. Some NFL linemen: RTS (Right Tackles)
75. Publisher Chandler: OTIS. No idea. Wikipedia says this guy was the publisher of LA Times between 1960 and 1980.
77. Chews out: BERATES
78. __ Major: Great Dog constellation: CANIS. Latin for "dog".
80. 1/60 of a dram: MINIM. New word to me. Related to minimum I suppose.
82. Kennel home: CAGE
83. Pretended to have written earlier, as a letter: BACKDATES
91. Fishing spot: PIER
92. Glaswegian gal: LASS. Alliteration.
93. Drip from a bad pipe: LEAK OUT. Verb phrase.
96. Tallahassee sch.: FSU (Florida State University). The Seminoles.
97. Listless: MOPEY
100. Salt Lake City Olympics year: MMII (2002)
102. Command to Spot: SIT. Could be SIC.
104. Artist friend of Max Ernst: MAN RAY. Not a familiar name to me. He was a surrealist photographer. Full name in clue = Full name in answer.
112. Maintain: ALLEGE
113. Hairy Addams cousin: ITT
114. Harry Potter's pal: RON. Easy guess. Have never read any Harry Potter series. You've probably guessed from Jazzbumpa's IRON/I RON wordplay that his real name is Ron.
115. Wreck completely: TOTAL
121. Harley or Honda: BIKE
122. Filmmaker Riefenstahl: LENI. Most famous for her "Triumph of the Will" for Hitler. I remember her name by associating her with Lenin.
123. Forest feature: TREE
125. Away from the wind: ALEE
126. LAX listings: ETDS. ETD = Estimated Time of Departure.
127. Things in locks: OARS. Wanted KEYS. Good clue.
128. Ad with a credit card bill, e.g.: INSERT
129. Ding, but not dong: DENT. Good clue too.
Down:
1. Star in Perseus: ALGOL (AL-gol). Unknown to me. Also called the Demon Star. Al is Arabic for "the". Gol is from Ghoul, evil demon. Related to Gorgon Medusa, who was killed by Perseus (PUR-see-uhs).
2. Grand, perhaps: PIANO. Ah, we just had "Upright, for one" the other day.
3. Rose oil: ATTAR
6. Take away forcibly: WREST
7. Something to do with a business associate?: LUNCH. Oh, I misinterpreted the clue, thinking of something "of a business associate".
8. Comic Izzard: EDDIE. No idea. He is a British comic, born in ADEN (38A: Port in Yemen).
10. Pol. letters until 1991: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)
11. Abate: LESSEN
12. Politico Kefauver: ESTES. Adlai Stevenson's 1956 running mate.
13. Light gray: ASH
14. Most frail: FEEBLEST
15. Losing: BEHIND. Ha ha, Tigers lost again! And Twins won. Poor Jazzbumpa.
16. Demonstrate: EVINCE. Know this word. Have never used it though.
17. Failed suddenly, in slang: TANKED
18. Emotional strife: ANGST. Too much ANGST in rap.
26. Window over a door: TRANSOM. Just learned the phrase "over the transom" the other day.
28. Campus recruiters, briefly: ROTC
33. Govt. loan insurer: FHA (Federal Housing Administration). I drew a blank.
34. Pleasant forecast: FAIR
35. Nice notion?: IDEE. Nice is the city in SE France.
41. Like music composed for a libretto: OPERATIC
42. Another name for biotin: VITAMIN H. Big stumper. Did not know the meaning of biotin. Have never heard of Vitamin H either. It's a water-soluble B-complex vitamin.
44. Chou En-__: LAI. China's first premier. LAI is literally "come" in Chinese.
45. Frequently, in verse: OFT
46. Cheering cry: RAH. Not OLE.
47. High-pitched: FLUTY. I checked, it's a real word.
48. Dramatist Rice: ELMER. No idea. Wikipedia says he received Pulitzer for Drama for his 1929 play "Street Scene".
50. "__ lied": SO I. Wrote down YOU, influenced by Congressman Joe Wilson.
52. Diminishes: WANES. Mine was FADES.
53. Formerly, formerly: ERST.
55. Pre-meal drink: APERITIF. Not for me.
56. Attractions not to be missed: MUST-SEES
57. Baden-Baden et al.: SPAS. Baden-Baden is a German spa town. Baden is German for "bathe". Totally unknown to me. Was it a gimme for you, Kazie?
59. Sydney's state: Abbr.: NSW (New South Wales). Definitely a gimme for Kazie.
60. Hall of Fame NFL coach Ewbank: WEEB. Nope. Strange name.
64. Tiny parasites: MITES. GNATS have 5 letters too.
66. Music with many subgenres: ROCK. Emo is a kind of ROCK.
68. Long time out: COMA. And NAP (79D. Short time out). Nice echo.
70. Religious factions: SECTS. Like Shia, Sunni.
71. Ore cars: TRAMS
72. Long tale: SAGA. Epic too.
73. Low: SAD
76. Round Table title: SIR. Don't let it be forgot/That once there was a spot/For one brief shining moment that was known/As Camelot.
81. Used-car datum: MILEAGE
83. Call to Bo-Peep: BAA. Nursery rhyme. "Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep..."
84. First rescue boat: ARK. Noah's ARK is the first ever rescue boat.
86. Actress Joanne: DRU. She's in "All the King's Men".
88. Accept, as a marriage proposal: SAY YES TO
89. Ad writer's award: CLIO. Muse of history.
90. Explorer Ericson: LEIF. The first European to land in North America. Same pronunciation as LIEF (willingly).
94. Trojans' sch.: USC (University of Southern California)
95. Incline: TILT
97. Croquet striker: MALLET. Mostly wooden-headed.
98. Off the boat: ON LAND
99. Summary: PRECIS (prey-SEE). Rooted in precise. APERCU is "Summary" too.
100. Dull finishes: MATTES
101. Tale involving Greek gods, e.g.: MYTH
103. "That's a shame": TOO BAD
105. Eatery traditionally modeled after a rail car: DINER
109. Of service: UTILE
110. Like a movie seat with a coat on it: TAKEN
111. Winter fall: SLEET
117. S&L offering: IRA (Individual Retirement Account)
119. Suffix with Caesar: EAN. Caesarean. C-Section.
120. He followed FDR: HST. "The buck stops here".
Answer grid.
C.C.
24A. Film about a soft-hearted creature?: TENDER IS THE THING. Thing/Night anagram. "Tender is the Night" is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
32A. Film about a computer supervisor?: LORD OF THE FILES. Files/Flies anagram. I've never heard of the novel "Lord of the Flies". It's written by British novelist William Golding, Nobel Literature winner 1983.
51A. Film about Los Angeles losing its NFL team?: A FAREWELL TO RAMS. Rams/Arms anagram. "A Farewell to Arms" is a novel by Hemingway. The Rams moved from LA to St. Louis in 1995. I faintly remember this trivia.
69A. Film about Broadway beginners?: WEST SIDE TYROS. Tyros/Story anagram. The musical "West Side Story". Tyro means "beginner".
87A. Film about Santa enjoying his holiday cigar?: A CHRISTMAS CLARO. Claro/Carol anagram. "A Christmas Carol" is a novel by Dickens. Claro is a mild cigar.
105. Film about a home run derby?: DAY OF THE CLOUTS. Clouts/Locust anagram. "The Day of the Locust" is a novel by Nathanael West. Another unknown to me. Shouldn't there be a "The" in the theme answer then? Clout is a powerful hit/home run in baseball.
116. Film about gardening options?: PLACES IN THE EARTH. Earth/Heart anagram. Not familiar the movie "Places in the Heart" either. Looks like a strong cast.
Very "Surprising Endings" indeed.
Did you grok the theme immediately? I did not until I got A CHRISTMAS CLAROL. Bollixed quite a few fill, but was able to solve the puzzle with mild cheating.
Always a great feeling to finish a Robert H. Wolfe puzzle. I tend to have difficulty getting into his wavelength.
Across:
1. Make __: match the scorecard, in golf: A PAR. And TEE (9D. Elevator on the links?). Links = golf course.
5. Little hooters: OWLETS
11. Two pages: LEAF. Oh my, I thought LEAF is only one page.
15. Second Greek letter: BETA. Alpha, beta and gamma.
19. Dieter's word: LITE. And CALORIE (43A. Heat measure). I connect CALORIE with food consumption rather than the heat it food produces.
21. Being, in old Rome: ESSE
22. Indiana senator Bayh: EVAN. Gimme. Senator Bayh (pronounced like by) is a Democrat.
23. Gangsters' guns: GATS. Or RODS. "Gangsters' girls" is MOLLS.
27. Studio sign: ON AIR
29. Chem., for one: SCI. Hated chemistry while in school. Had a very menacing teacher.
30. Chicago-to-Louisville dir.: SSE
31. Name on an armored truck: BRINKS. Wow, I've never paid attention to the name on those armoured truck.
36. Small surgical knife: LANCET. New to me. Rooted in Lance. SCALPEL is "Small surgical knife" too.
37. Landlocked Afr. land: ETH (Ethiopia). Two other African landlocked countries are Lesotho and Swaziland.
49. Certain Prot.: EPIS (Episcopal). Saw this abbreviation somewhere before.
58. Continue after a setback, as one's life: GET ON WITH
61. Jack-in-the-pulpit family: ARUM. Nailed it today.
62. Clean a spill: MOP UP
63. Poker action: RAISE
64. Scary film staple: MONSTER
67. Flat-topped rise: MESA. Also a city in Arizona.
68. Picture-taking word ending: CAM. As in webcam/skycam.
74. Some NFL linemen: RTS (Right Tackles)
75. Publisher Chandler: OTIS. No idea. Wikipedia says this guy was the publisher of LA Times between 1960 and 1980.
77. Chews out: BERATES
78. __ Major: Great Dog constellation: CANIS. Latin for "dog".
80. 1/60 of a dram: MINIM. New word to me. Related to minimum I suppose.
82. Kennel home: CAGE
83. Pretended to have written earlier, as a letter: BACKDATES
91. Fishing spot: PIER
92. Glaswegian gal: LASS. Alliteration.
93. Drip from a bad pipe: LEAK OUT. Verb phrase.
96. Tallahassee sch.: FSU (Florida State University). The Seminoles.
97. Listless: MOPEY
100. Salt Lake City Olympics year: MMII (2002)
102. Command to Spot: SIT. Could be SIC.
104. Artist friend of Max Ernst: MAN RAY. Not a familiar name to me. He was a surrealist photographer. Full name in clue = Full name in answer.
112. Maintain: ALLEGE
113. Hairy Addams cousin: ITT
114. Harry Potter's pal: RON. Easy guess. Have never read any Harry Potter series. You've probably guessed from Jazzbumpa's IRON/I RON wordplay that his real name is Ron.
115. Wreck completely: TOTAL
121. Harley or Honda: BIKE
122. Filmmaker Riefenstahl: LENI. Most famous for her "Triumph of the Will" for Hitler. I remember her name by associating her with Lenin.
123. Forest feature: TREE
125. Away from the wind: ALEE
126. LAX listings: ETDS. ETD = Estimated Time of Departure.
127. Things in locks: OARS. Wanted KEYS. Good clue.
128. Ad with a credit card bill, e.g.: INSERT
129. Ding, but not dong: DENT. Good clue too.
Down:
1. Star in Perseus: ALGOL (AL-gol). Unknown to me. Also called the Demon Star. Al is Arabic for "the". Gol is from Ghoul, evil demon. Related to Gorgon Medusa, who was killed by Perseus (PUR-see-uhs).
2. Grand, perhaps: PIANO. Ah, we just had "Upright, for one" the other day.
3. Rose oil: ATTAR
6. Take away forcibly: WREST
7. Something to do with a business associate?: LUNCH. Oh, I misinterpreted the clue, thinking of something "of a business associate".
8. Comic Izzard: EDDIE. No idea. He is a British comic, born in ADEN (38A: Port in Yemen).
10. Pol. letters until 1991: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)
11. Abate: LESSEN
12. Politico Kefauver: ESTES. Adlai Stevenson's 1956 running mate.
13. Light gray: ASH
14. Most frail: FEEBLEST
15. Losing: BEHIND. Ha ha, Tigers lost again! And Twins won. Poor Jazzbumpa.
16. Demonstrate: EVINCE. Know this word. Have never used it though.
17. Failed suddenly, in slang: TANKED
18. Emotional strife: ANGST. Too much ANGST in rap.
26. Window over a door: TRANSOM. Just learned the phrase "over the transom" the other day.
28. Campus recruiters, briefly: ROTC
33. Govt. loan insurer: FHA (Federal Housing Administration). I drew a blank.
34. Pleasant forecast: FAIR
35. Nice notion?: IDEE. Nice is the city in SE France.
41. Like music composed for a libretto: OPERATIC
42. Another name for biotin: VITAMIN H. Big stumper. Did not know the meaning of biotin. Have never heard of Vitamin H either. It's a water-soluble B-complex vitamin.
44. Chou En-__: LAI. China's first premier. LAI is literally "come" in Chinese.
45. Frequently, in verse: OFT
46. Cheering cry: RAH. Not OLE.
47. High-pitched: FLUTY. I checked, it's a real word.
48. Dramatist Rice: ELMER. No idea. Wikipedia says he received Pulitzer for Drama for his 1929 play "Street Scene".
50. "__ lied": SO I. Wrote down YOU, influenced by Congressman Joe Wilson.
52. Diminishes: WANES. Mine was FADES.
53. Formerly, formerly: ERST.
55. Pre-meal drink: APERITIF. Not for me.
56. Attractions not to be missed: MUST-SEES
57. Baden-Baden et al.: SPAS. Baden-Baden is a German spa town. Baden is German for "bathe". Totally unknown to me. Was it a gimme for you, Kazie?
59. Sydney's state: Abbr.: NSW (New South Wales). Definitely a gimme for Kazie.
60. Hall of Fame NFL coach Ewbank: WEEB. Nope. Strange name.
64. Tiny parasites: MITES. GNATS have 5 letters too.
66. Music with many subgenres: ROCK. Emo is a kind of ROCK.
68. Long time out: COMA. And NAP (79D. Short time out). Nice echo.
70. Religious factions: SECTS. Like Shia, Sunni.
71. Ore cars: TRAMS
72. Long tale: SAGA. Epic too.
73. Low: SAD
76. Round Table title: SIR. Don't let it be forgot/That once there was a spot/For one brief shining moment that was known/As Camelot.
81. Used-car datum: MILEAGE
83. Call to Bo-Peep: BAA. Nursery rhyme. "Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep..."
84. First rescue boat: ARK. Noah's ARK is the first ever rescue boat.
86. Actress Joanne: DRU. She's in "All the King's Men".
88. Accept, as a marriage proposal: SAY YES TO
89. Ad writer's award: CLIO. Muse of history.
90. Explorer Ericson: LEIF. The first European to land in North America. Same pronunciation as LIEF (willingly).
94. Trojans' sch.: USC (University of Southern California)
95. Incline: TILT
97. Croquet striker: MALLET. Mostly wooden-headed.
98. Off the boat: ON LAND
99. Summary: PRECIS (prey-SEE). Rooted in precise. APERCU is "Summary" too.
100. Dull finishes: MATTES
101. Tale involving Greek gods, e.g.: MYTH
103. "That's a shame": TOO BAD
105. Eatery traditionally modeled after a rail car: DINER
109. Of service: UTILE
110. Like a movie seat with a coat on it: TAKEN
111. Winter fall: SLEET
117. S&L offering: IRA (Individual Retirement Account)
119. Suffix with Caesar: EAN. Caesarean. C-Section.
120. He followed FDR: HST. "The buck stops here".
Answer grid.
C.C.
Morning, C.C. Another good Sunday puzzle with some really fun clues.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I realized that the last word of the long theme was different from the word in the movie title, it took I didn't realize it was an anagram until after I filled in FAREWELL TO RAMS. That made the final theme clues easier to figure out.
It was fun seeing LEAF and LEIF in the same puzzle, as well as Long Time Out (COMA) and Short Time Out (NAP).
PIANO must be the new word for crossword, since we have seen the word at least 3 times in the past week, but each with a clever new clue.
First Rescue Boat is a very clever clue for ARK.
The Lancet is a very prestigious medical journal.
I also liked seeing Ding, not Dong (DENT) and Nice Notion? (DENT).
My favorite, however, was BACKDATED.
QOD: Evil is always possible; goodness is eternally difficult ~ Anne Rice whose birthday is today, Oct 4, 1941).
Susan/Haltool?,
ReplyDeleteActually we have PIANO three days in a row, with three different clues.
Jerome,
I am eagerly waiting for your next puzzle, with DANTE or not.
Warren,
Thanks for the belt link. Did you get fresh or dried shiitake (take is Japanese for mushroom)?
Good Morning, C.C. and Susan.
ReplyDeleteMy downfall this morning was biotin although in retrospect, I still should have gotten VITAMIN H. I'm going to need more than a MINIM of coffee to get moving today.
Re: minim (m or min)
[1] A traditional unit of volume used for very small quantities of liquids. In pharmacy, the term drop traditionally meant the same thing as 1 minim. The minim is defined to be 1/60 fluid dram or 1/480 fluid ounce. As you might guess, the word comes from the Latin minimus, small.
[2] A unit of relative time in music equal to 1/2 whole note (a half note) or 1/4 breve.
Argyle,
ReplyDeleteWhat food contain VITAMIN H? I was not familiar with it at all.
PJB,
My grandma used to have a pomegranate tree in her yard. A few sprinkles of those seeds can make your salad look very pretty.
Jeannie,
I was just implying that I loved your mouthwatering recipes. Plus, I am all for full-fat, real food.
Man Ray's birth name was Emmanuel Radnitzky. His family was Russian Jewish immigrants, who “Anglicized” their surname from Radnitzky to Ray to alleviate some of the anti-Semitism they faced. As a child, Emmanuel was called “Manny”, which he later shortened to Man. He was a very creative surrealistic artist.
ReplyDeleteOOPS ~ wrong verb tense there. Man Ray's family came from Russia, although he was born in the US and was a US citizen.
ReplyDeleteWhat an enjoyable puzzle, albeit tough. Had to visit Google three times and made some bad guesses, a few lucky ones. Took a long time to finish, but it was "al dente" to me, not too easy, not too tough.
ReplyDeleteThe first 3 theme answers were witty/fun, but the last couple were stumpers. CLOUTS and CLARO were unknown to me as nouns. Made the same mistake as C. C. with "you" lied instead of "so I."
Fill & clues in the hit parade, real brain elevators(!): ARK as "first rescue boat," and COMA as "long time out."
Elsewhere, UTILE (109D) isn't part of my English vocab but it's a common French word, meaning "useful." Also, several names that called for some hogwild guessing: WEEB (60D), OTIS (75A) and ESTES (12D), ELMER (48D) and DRU (86D).
Weird typo in clue for 72D "Long tal e".
PSA: Biotin, I believe, is also called B7. Water soluble vitamins include the B family and C. They're excreted PDQ, so need to be consumed daily, or close to it-- they can discolor urine. Fat soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K. Those are stored longer in the body. Most insurance plans cover only pre-natal vitamins or those that are injected. Ouch!
More, later Breakfast is calling...
You don't really hear about Biotin all that much because you usually can get enough to prevent deficiency symptoms with a normal diet. One exception to that is if you were to eat a lot of raw eggs, especially if you didn't eat the yolks. Pregnant women need to be careful about that, because biotin, like folic acid is important for fetal development. Raw whites contain a glycoprotein called Avidin which binds with biotin in the gut and prevents it from being absorbed. Egg whites should always be eaten cooked.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when one heats the yolk, changes occur in the fragile compounds that serve to support the vital life force within the egg. The egg yolk, in many ways, is not very different from your own cells (one of the reasons it makes such a good food). Once your temperature goes above 105 degrees you will start to suffer serious health problems. Similarly, heating the yolk above 105 degrees will also start to cause structural changes in many of the highly perishable components present in the yolk.
The most obvious one is cholesterol. The higher the yolk is heated, the more likely oxidation of cholesterol will occur. This is especially true when it is combined with egg white (as in scrambled eggs) because the iron present in the white will further oxidize the cholesterol. Our blood vessels do not have receptors for cholesterol, only for oxidized cholesterol. So, you can eat as many eggs as you like, without worrying about cholesterol, as long as you eat them soft-boiled or poached. I supplement with biotin because I eat eggs daily (my cholesterol is still only about 183) and I want to be careful in case I didn't cook the whites enough.
The other instance of having a biotin deficiency is IV nutrition (tube feeding) without biotin supplementation in patients with short-gut syndrome, but chances of running into that are slight.
Biotin is necessary for healthy skin, hair and nerve cells, and is important in glucose metabolism and use in the liver. It plays an important part in lowering your blood sugar levels. People with diabetes can benefit from getting an ample amount either through proper diet or supplementation.
Excellent food sources of biotin include swiss chard (highest), tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and carrots. Very good sources include almonds, chicken eggs, onions, cabbage, cucumber, and cauliflower.
Wow, what a fun puzzle this one was. That doesn't mean it was a walk in the park. Unlike Jerome, I am not very good at anagrams. I had to go back and forth and up and down several times before it slowly started to fill in. Talk about a picket fence!
ReplyDeleteThere weren't too many total unknowns except for ARGOL, RICE and MINIM. I had no idea that VITAMIN H was biotin. If I hadn't been sure that 87A started with A CHRISTMAS, I doubt if I would have figured it out. I didn't much care for "SO I lied" or FLUTY, but APERITIF made up for both of them. SPA for "Baden-Baden, et al" was one of those, "How did I know that one?"
I had the same gripe as C.C. with the correct title of THE DAY OF THE LOCUST. Other than that, I thought the theme fills were terrific. I've read all the novels and seen the movies, so there weren't any that I was unfamiliar with. That helped a lot with my solving enjoyment.
If you want to see a great movie with Joanne DRU, rent Red River one of the best westerns ever made.
PJB and I are singing off the same favorites page for "Long time out" for COMA and ARK for "First rescue boat".
Al, thanks for the biotin information.
Had to google a few to finish this one today. Me thinks Jerome is going to connect with this puzzle well. I knew the theme right away as my first fill was LORD OF THE FILES. My son is reading that book for his english class, and I will begin it on tape in a few days. I try to read his material so I understand what he is writing on. He struggles with reading, so it helps if I know the material well. The english teachers always teach this sophomore year, and they really like it.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite clues were "First rescue boat" and "Long time out" also.
CC, I am a little superstitious about bragging about the Twins just yet, but am thankful the Sox stepped it up this weekend. Was a little irritated that we couldn't watch the Tigers game locally too. We shall see what today will hold. Possibly the last game in the Metrodome, possibly not I guess.
TOTAL brings back memories of my brother, who got his license at 16 and 1/2 hour later, skipped school, totaled his friends car, and pushed it into a garage to hide the damage. Makes my journey of raising teens seem like a cakewalk (I try to remember that, but am not always successful).
I thought this puzzle was a great way to end/begin the week. I'm not familiar with Robert H Wolfe, but I will remember his name next time. Very clever, fun puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was in big trouble with this one until I corrected my first answer for 11D, abate, which was 'ease up'. Once I changed that to 'lessen', 'tender is the thing' fell. I stared at 'thing' for a moment and night jumped off the page. I was able to finish with much perp help and head scratching.
Favorites were Elevator on the links (tee) and First rescue boat (ark).
Jeannie-thanks for all the good recipes lately. I am definitely not a foodie, but I am willing to try. How bad can it be?
Good day all:
ReplyDeleteYou really have to admire the work put into this puzzle to arrive at so many theme answers, all skillfully clued, and still not choking us with crosswordese. Of course you are correct that the title was THE Day of the Locusts , but I would think we could cut the guy a break. It does underscore for all the constructors, one cannot get away with anything when this many eyes are watching.
I will one day learn to read NICE as a city, and try to remember the new names I never heard of like MAN RAY, LENI and Mr. OTIS. I am familiar with the most famous executive transvestite, EDDIE IZZARD who is a very funny comedian, a successful actor, and a happily married het. Listen to his clip.
I also am very familiar with WEEB who began his pro football coaching career for the Baltimore Colts, with Johnny Unitas as his quarterback, won two NFL championships, including the first overtime game, generally considered the greatest football game of all time, and what made the NFL The Game and then was fired a few years later, replaced by DON SHULA, who would go on to become the winningest coach of all time. Weeb then became coach of the AFL New York Jets, with a new young quarterback, Joe Namath, and in 1969, faced Shula in the third Super Bowl, and completely out coached Shula, and upset the heavily favored Colts who were being hailed as the greatest team. Irony can come in large doses.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteOutstanding puzzle today. Brilliant theme, lots of fresh fill, and many clever clues.
The dropped definite article "THE" from DAY OF THE CLOUTS was transmuted into the gratuitous indefinite article "A" in A PAR, getting an otherwise superlative puzzle off to a very bad start.
A few alternate clues
39A AL Central pennant race will soon be ______________. ENDED
80A Quantity of Tiger's scoring. MINIM
82A Place for a Tiger. CAGE
97 A Emotional state of a Tigers fan. MOPEY
114 A One of the Tiger's fans. JZB
124A Experiences of Tiger's batters. LAPSES
127A What Tiger batters look like they're swinging. OARS
6D What Twins might do with the pennant. WREST
7D What the Tigers are out to. LUNCH
9D Better ball game for Tiger's hitters? TEE
11 D What a few beers might do to
18D and 97A (or not.) LESSEN
18D Erstwhile bat source. ASH
15 D Where the Twins were 24 hours ago. BEHIND
17 D What the Tigers did. TANKED
18D Emotional state of a Tigers fan. ANGST
41 D Quality of the Tigers' collapse. OPERATIC
81 D What the Tigers did not get from their pitching yesterday. MILEAGE
103 D What some of us will be saying, either today or tomorrow. TOO BAD
I could go on, but - oh, well . . .
Cheers!
JzB the MOPEY ANGST-riddled tromonist
Too bad for Tiger fans. We've seen William Blake's The Tyger recently, so the next best thing, poetry-wise, is their feline relative, the panther. I love this poem. It is so evocative. It comes as close as anything can to making us feel the way a caged animal must feel.
ReplyDeleteThe Panther
His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars, and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tense, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
I'm off to have lunch fun with the "California Coven + One" today in Milpitas. I'm sure we'll all be reporting back tomorrow. See you then.
Very Clever, Jazzbumpa. CC will having you be a guest commentator if you aren't careful!
ReplyDeleteLemonade: I've seen Leni Riefenstahl name appear in crosswords before. She was apparently a very talented German film-maker who destroyed her career and credibility by her close association with Hitler and other top Nazis. She claimed not to have known that the Nazis were killing Jews, but was busted after photos of her a a concentration camp were uncovered. She died only a few years ago shortly after her 101th birthday.
Happy Sukkot.
Hi CC and everybody. I enjoyed the puzzle. For me, it was fun and doable without much help. I like that. I figured out the theme by the time I got to the second theme entry.
ReplyDeleteCC said: "Oh my, I thought LEAF is only one page." My understanding is that a page is a numbered side of a piece of paper in a book. A leaf is the piece of paper. For example, the first leaf includes page one and page two, front and back side of the first leaf.
Jazz, incredibly good alternate clues. I am feeling so bad for you - sort of. I cannot say that I hope you have a better day today. We shall see if it is the last day in the Metrodome or not.
ReplyDelete11:01am post is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to chime in and say I thought it a great puzzle today as well. I especially enjoyed the anagrammed movie title theme. I had most trouble with the SW corner with some alternate clue answers in the way, but eventually I had my "aha!" moment and it fell into place.
ReplyDeleteIt's rare for me to do the Sunday xword, being a bit big for my tastes, but this one was very satisfying and I glad to have taken the time. Picked up and/or relearned some new words in the process too, algol, biotin, clouts, minim, & precis (along with some new names) which I always find a nice bonus to working the later-in-the-week xwords. I found it a very doable puzzle offline too. It definitely presented me with some challenges, but nothing so mind-numbingly cross-clued as to require gspotting here. Plenty of fun clues too, several already mentioned by other posters here in cc's blog. "Fluty" and "leakout" were really the only answers I found on the clunky side, although they didn't really get in the way of solving this puzzle.
OK, I'm off to do some serious ditch digging today, preparing for a new row of bushes and maybe a garden next Spring. Got a ton of new flower bulbs to get in the ground.
Best,
anon-hp
Good morning, everyone!
ReplyDeleteSatisfying to complete a Sunday puzzle with no assistance. Finally got COMA and MINIM to close it out. I'll bet jerome will love this one!
@al Thank you for the biotin education!
@lemonade Thanks for the Izzard clip -- new to me.
Have a great Sunday!!
CC said: Star in Perseus: ALGOL (AL-gol). Unknown to me. Also called the Demon Star.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Algol. It's a famous variable star that noticeably changes brightness every few days. It's made up of two stars closely orbiting each other, one much dimmer than the other. When the dim one gets in front of the brighter one, Algol gets dimmer. When they are side-by-side, it looks brighter.
Good afternoon C.C. and all
ReplyDeleteJust got done with the puzzle, very enjoyable and if i was a chef, i too, would call it a bit " al dente " .
Al, very interesting about the egg, reminded me of my favorite breakfast as a child and favorite dessert as a grown-up, the Zabaglione ! ( minus Marsala for me )
I still indulge in it now and then some mornings, because is so simple to make and so delicious.
I beat the raw egg yolk and sugar to the consistency of mayo and add it to my coffee and voila' i have a cafe au lait without milk.
I think i will make me a zabaglione tomorrow morning.
Thanks Al.
On a different subject, i want to share with my fellow bloggers who may or may not know, monday tomorrow night , Inventing L.A. will be aired on WPBT2 at 21:00 hrs.
The Chandlers family living their American Dream the LAT.
I for one, will have to forgo Two and a Half Men to see that.
Ok and Arrivederci for now.
I loved this puzzle and also didn't figure out the suprise ending until a farewell to rams...but really enjoyed it today.
ReplyDeleteAnyone heard if the Friday and Sat puzzles will be more challenging? If I can do them then they aren't hard enough!!
My darling daughter is being married next weekend and can't wait. loads to do.
Enjoying the crisp fall air in Illnois but few leafs have dropped to date...
Joan
20:06 today. A cute theme which took a little while to emerge (since I solve "downs first"). Nailed it with LORD OF THE FILES, the second theme entry I came to. We read the book back in high school, I think. It's a pretty good book--guess that's why it's read by students so much.
ReplyDeleteFavorite theme entry: A FAREWELL TO RAMS. I loved that one.
I'm glad to see that we're back to a bit more challenging (and entertaining) puzzles the last couple of days.
No time to blog as wife and I are rushing out to dinner in a minute. (I don't eat at home any more--wife occasionally has leftovers from restaurants.) I'm thinking steak au poivre will be my entree tonight. Yum.
Boomermamma said: "Anyone heard if the Friday and Sat puzzles will be more challenging? If I can do them then they aren't hard enough!!"
ReplyDeleteI have been enjoying the LAT puzzles more lately. I can still barely do the harder ones. I downloaded a puzzle from a new source and I'm needing much 'Revealing' and Googling. Not much fun for me at all.
I see where the Twins and Tigers are still tied. Good luck. :>)
I'm glad the Dodgers finally got it together enough to win their division.
Twin victories for the Tigers and that Minnesota team - whatever their name is.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile those Minnesota guys scored more runs than I have fingers, so I lost count.
I thought the playoff would be tomorrow, but it's Tuesday, since the Vikings have the Dome tied up on Monday. What's that all about? Anyway, it'll be a short series - best of one. Rick Porcelo (14-9) against Scott Baker (15-9)
Tigers had to use Verlander today, and still had a hard time holding onto a 5-0 lead.
I tried to find the Tigers' record at the Dome this year, but came up empty. Pretty sure it's not good.
Anyway those Minn guys have been hot, and the Tigers pretty cool.
Should be exciting.
Cheers!
JzB the ever-hopeful trombonist
Jazz, of the 9 games the Tigers played at the Dome this year, they have only won 2. I don't know about years past. We watched most of the Tigers game today, and all of the Twins. It was a full dome so I cannot even imagine how noisy it was. I was there for both of the World Series and the noise is unbelievable. That is the one factor that I think will be missed with the loss of the Metrodome.
ReplyDeleteTrying to get tickets to the game, but have been in the "virtual waiting room" for 3 hours now. They won't say that it is sold out though. Interesting.
And the reason for the delay is the much anticipated Viking/Packer match-up for Monday night football. If Brett Favre wins, he will have beaten every team in the NFL, so quite an amazing sports weekend here.
Here is a link to a poll of ESPN readers and who they think will win on Tuesday. Click on the view map button. My son is pumped.
A late look in for me. I only did the puzzle late this afternoon and haven't had time to comment until now. So most of what I would have said is said.
ReplyDeleteI always miss some clues by doing all across or down for a while, and that was the case for several today that did themselves. SPAS was one of those, though it would have been a gimme. Baden Baden was one of the first to be popular in Europe. NSW was definitely a gimme.
But I didn't know RTS, ALGOL or EPIS (just didn't think it looked like any religion--I still think of them as "Church of England" or "Anglican". Also MINIM, CLOUTS (in that context) and CLARO were new words to me.
I did catch onto the theme early, but was having trouble remembering the appropriate film titles after I did. My kids used to always kid me when I'd rent films we'd seen already because I didn't remember the titles and the hype on the box was always so glowing, I wouldn't recognize them as familiar from that either.
On the whole, an enjoyable puzzle, but I used redletter help like crazy.
Have a good night everyone!
Clear Ayes,
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say that the Panther was one of the poems I had to study in German while at college. It also came up almost every year on the list of choices to be memorized and performed at the German Day speaking contests at the UW-Madison to which I took students every year. Rilke was quite prolific, but for some reason, that poem seemed the most popular.
Evening CC and friends...don`t have the change rolled yet...but it appears we made between $550 and $600 on selling our used stuff! I`ve been dragging out stuff for two months and I can`t even find the space I made, already!
ReplyDeleteThe Sunday puzzles are always too long, no more time than I have..but this one was more fun than many others I`ve done...it took me three movie titles before I saw that "mis-spellings" were going to be the theme...then I felt right at home! With doing the "downs" (all I could do) and getting three theme answers, I only had to "cheat" 25 ( OK, 5 or 6) times. :)
Go Vikings! I have a personal stake in the team!
Made taco soup to have during Saturday`s sale. So simple. I browned ground chuck with onions ahead of time. That AM, I dumped two cans of kidney beans, one of black beans, 1 of chopped tomatoes, 1 of white corn, with the meat and 4 cans of water in my largest crock pot... seasoned it with two packets taco seasoning and 1 packet dry, ranch seasoning and simmered it a couple hours. Wonderful...we ate it with the "hot" crackers and Mexican cornbread. Felt good inside and out...as it was a wonderful, early fall day. Have to haul the "leftover" yard sale stuff to one of our junk dealers tomorrow...it`s all over my den, now >:(
Al: Enjoyed your nutritional info. I`ve always known eggs didn`t "harm" your lipid levels because they have lecithin which counter-acts cholesterol, or so says my Mom and sister-in-law who are really knowledgeable about natural nutrition and raw juice therapy. They take no statins, only niacin to lower their levels. My Mom drinks cinnamon tea and takes cinnamon capsules to ease arthritis pain. She drinks tonic water (in the "mixer' section) with quinine three times a week to alleviate leg cramps. My sister-in-law drinks raw carrot juice and eats hardly anything fried, walks three miles @ day and at 72...could pass for 45 or 50! Between the two of them...and now AL, I get excellent health information!
Okay Warren, did the meatloaf recipe that you made last night put you under?
ReplyDeleteC.C., yes I am a foodie foremost. I only cook with natural ingredients and I noticed you mentioned you only use chives as your natural herb choice. I implore you to incorporate more of the natural herbs out there. Rosemary, thyme, basil. One of my favorite recipes that I am going to post has a definite rosemary theme to it. It's protein as well for Dennis.
I have a completely different puzzle in my Sunday Oct 4th LA Times. Theme is "One more letter to write" and 1 across clue is "Boston player, briefly".
ReplyDelete?!?!?
@jg roshell This is the syndicated LA Times puzzle and does not get published in the LA Times newspaper. You can do a Google search for Merl Reagle and go to the blog that shows up for help, etc. for the puzzle that's actually in the newspaper.
ReplyDelete