Theme: Literal Translation - Familiar phrases consisting of an anagrammed word of the capitalized theme clue and anagram indicators.
23A. TOG?: GOT TURNED AROUND. GOT was turned around and became TOG.
38A. GLIBNESS?: MIXED BLESSING. BLESSING was mixed and became GLIBNESS.
51A. FELT?: LEFT IN DISARRAY. LEFT was in disarray and became FELT.
66A. GOES?: ALTER EGOS. EGOS was altered into GOES.
69A. RAGE?: GEAR SHIFT. GEAR was shifted into RAGE.
89A. SING?: OUT OF ORDER SIGN. SIGN was out of order and became SING.
97A. EARTH?: CHANGE OF HEART. Heart was changed into EARTH.
118A. STOP?: POST REFORMATION. POST was reformed into STOP.
I realized the theme is about reverse anagram after seeing all those capitalized theme clues. But I am not a cryptic fan, so the puzzle was a bit tough for me to unscramble. Cheated very early on.
All the above theme answers are actually clues, and the clues are answers. That's why all the clues are capitalized. Correct, Jerome?
I feel this puzzle is to be admired afterward. Lots of cleverly twisted clues.
Across:
1. Soft drink option: SODA POP
8. Regal rod: SCEPTER. Symbol of authority.
15. Get ready to eat?: RIPEN. Delicious clue. "Ready to eat?" would be great for RIPE too.
20. Blue books?: EROTICA. The question mark hints at the risqué meaning of "blue".
21. Way over the ocean: AIR LANE
22. Overcome glossophobia: ORATE. Glossophobia is fear of public speaking. New word to me.
25. Law school subject: TORTS
26. Pot creators: ANTES
27. NASA rank: CMDR (Commander). Stumped me.
28. One of Jason's men: ARGONAUT. Jason and the Argonauts. Jason's ship is ARGO.
30. Country's Acuff et al.: ROYS. Roy Acuff, King of Country Music. Rang a dim bell to me.
31. Annual parade city since 1890: PASADENA. Rose Bowl city.
35. Like the vb. "be," e.g.: IRR (Irregular)
36. Shipbuilding wood: TEAK. Water resistant, isn't it?
44. H, as in "Hera": ETA. The letter H in Greek goddess Hera is a vowel.
47. Multicolored: PIED. Ah, the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
49. Cantina fare: TAMALE
50. Symphonic wind: OBOE. Wind instrument.
55. Song on the Beatles' "Revolver" album: TAXMAN. Here is a clip.
57. Political position: STANCE
58. Mecca for N.Y.C. art lovers: MOMA (Museum of Modern Art)
59. Penguin on skates, for short: NHLER. The Pittsburgh Penguins.
61. Nautical pronoun: SHE
62. 1968 self-titled folk album: ARLO. Arlo Guthrie.
63. Cock and bull: MALES. Nice play on "a cock and bull story".
64. Pieces of 8?: ARCS. Is it because of the shape of 8?
74. Squeezes (out): EKES. Ekes out a living.
75. Cancels: NULLS. Thought of nixes first.
76. Island accessories: LEIS. Island in Hawaii.
78. Monk's address: FRA
81. Shocked intakes: GASPS. Nice clue.
84. "All __": 1984 film featuring an old song of the same name: OF ME. Nope. Not familiar with the movie or the song.
85. Overly affected: TOO-TOO
87. Confessions may be given under it: DURESS. Great clue too. I fell into Dennis' trap yesterday and really thought he was adopted.
92. Old Roman road: ITER
93. Picked: CHOSEN
95. Silverware point: TINE
96. Light period: DAY. "Light" indeed.
101. Micro ending: COSM. Microcosm. My initial thought was SOFT.
103. Mortgage pmt. component: INT (Interest)
104. Canal locale: INNER EAR. Not the waterway canal.
106. B'way ticket abbr.: ORCH (Orchestra). Was stymied.
110. "Says who?": IS THAT SO
115. Nitwit: SIMP
116. Mild cigar: CLARO. Learned from doing Xword. Spanish for "clear".
117. It's traditionally placed to the right of the knife: SPOON
123. "Not possible": I CAN'T
124. 12:30, on a ship: ONE BELL. See this list. Are they still using the bell to indicate time?
125. Beckett contemporary: IONESCO (Eugène). No idea. He's a Romanian/French playwright. Theater of the Absurd pioneer. Samuel Beckett was an Irish dramatist. Nobel Literature winner 1969.
126. Stuffs: SATES. Read "Stuffs" as noun.
127. Bargain hunter's stop: TAG SALE
128. Like some markets: OPEN AIR. I miss farmer's markets.
Down:
23A. TOG?: GOT TURNED AROUND. GOT was turned around and became TOG.
38A. GLIBNESS?: MIXED BLESSING. BLESSING was mixed and became GLIBNESS.
51A. FELT?: LEFT IN DISARRAY. LEFT was in disarray and became FELT.
66A. GOES?: ALTER EGOS. EGOS was altered into GOES.
69A. RAGE?: GEAR SHIFT. GEAR was shifted into RAGE.
89A. SING?: OUT OF ORDER SIGN. SIGN was out of order and became SING.
97A. EARTH?: CHANGE OF HEART. Heart was changed into EARTH.
118A. STOP?: POST REFORMATION. POST was reformed into STOP.
I realized the theme is about reverse anagram after seeing all those capitalized theme clues. But I am not a cryptic fan, so the puzzle was a bit tough for me to unscramble. Cheated very early on.
All the above theme answers are actually clues, and the clues are answers. That's why all the clues are capitalized. Correct, Jerome?
I feel this puzzle is to be admired afterward. Lots of cleverly twisted clues.
Across:
1. Soft drink option: SODA POP
8. Regal rod: SCEPTER. Symbol of authority.
15. Get ready to eat?: RIPEN. Delicious clue. "Ready to eat?" would be great for RIPE too.
20. Blue books?: EROTICA. The question mark hints at the risqué meaning of "blue".
21. Way over the ocean: AIR LANE
22. Overcome glossophobia: ORATE. Glossophobia is fear of public speaking. New word to me.
25. Law school subject: TORTS
26. Pot creators: ANTES
27. NASA rank: CMDR (Commander). Stumped me.
28. One of Jason's men: ARGONAUT. Jason and the Argonauts. Jason's ship is ARGO.
30. Country's Acuff et al.: ROYS. Roy Acuff, King of Country Music. Rang a dim bell to me.
31. Annual parade city since 1890: PASADENA. Rose Bowl city.
35. Like the vb. "be," e.g.: IRR (Irregular)
36. Shipbuilding wood: TEAK. Water resistant, isn't it?
44. H, as in "Hera": ETA. The letter H in Greek goddess Hera is a vowel.
47. Multicolored: PIED. Ah, the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
49. Cantina fare: TAMALE
50. Symphonic wind: OBOE. Wind instrument.
55. Song on the Beatles' "Revolver" album: TAXMAN. Here is a clip.
57. Political position: STANCE
58. Mecca for N.Y.C. art lovers: MOMA (Museum of Modern Art)
59. Penguin on skates, for short: NHLER. The Pittsburgh Penguins.
61. Nautical pronoun: SHE
62. 1968 self-titled folk album: ARLO. Arlo Guthrie.
63. Cock and bull: MALES. Nice play on "a cock and bull story".
64. Pieces of 8?: ARCS. Is it because of the shape of 8?
74. Squeezes (out): EKES. Ekes out a living.
75. Cancels: NULLS. Thought of nixes first.
76. Island accessories: LEIS. Island in Hawaii.
78. Monk's address: FRA
81. Shocked intakes: GASPS. Nice clue.
84. "All __": 1984 film featuring an old song of the same name: OF ME. Nope. Not familiar with the movie or the song.
85. Overly affected: TOO-TOO
87. Confessions may be given under it: DURESS. Great clue too. I fell into Dennis' trap yesterday and really thought he was adopted.
92. Old Roman road: ITER
93. Picked: CHOSEN
95. Silverware point: TINE
96. Light period: DAY. "Light" indeed.
101. Micro ending: COSM. Microcosm. My initial thought was SOFT.
103. Mortgage pmt. component: INT (Interest)
104. Canal locale: INNER EAR. Not the waterway canal.
106. B'way ticket abbr.: ORCH (Orchestra). Was stymied.
110. "Says who?": IS THAT SO
115. Nitwit: SIMP
116. Mild cigar: CLARO. Learned from doing Xword. Spanish for "clear".
117. It's traditionally placed to the right of the knife: SPOON
123. "Not possible": I CAN'T
124. 12:30, on a ship: ONE BELL. See this list. Are they still using the bell to indicate time?
125. Beckett contemporary: IONESCO (Eugène). No idea. He's a Romanian/French playwright. Theater of the Absurd pioneer. Samuel Beckett was an Irish dramatist. Nobel Literature winner 1969.
126. Stuffs: SATES. Read "Stuffs" as noun.
127. Bargain hunter's stop: TAG SALE
128. Like some markets: OPEN AIR. I miss farmer's markets.
Down:
1. Olive Oyl's creator: SEGAR (E. C.). Can never remember his name.
2. Maine town named for a Penobscot chief: ORONO. Good to know.
3. Eccentric: DOTTY
4. Bear witness: ATTEST
5. __ XII, WWII pope: PIUS. There are 12 pope named Pius.
6. Text-interpreting technology, briefly: OCR (Optical Character Reader)
7. Flattened: PANCAKED. Did not know pancake can be a verb.
8. Gulf War foe: SADDAM
9. Poet John who translated Dante's "Divine Comedy": CIARDI. Stranger to me.
11. Mideast political gp.: PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Rival of Hamas.
12. Letter before upsilon: TAU. Greek T.
13. Sicilian resort: ENNA. The Sicilian volcano is ETNA.
14. Put through one's paces again: REDRILL. RETRACE jumped to my mind.
15. Copter blades: ROTORS
16. Curling gadget: IRON
17. Legal opening?: PARA. Paralegal.
18. Rebuke before the senate: ET TU. Roman senate. "Et tu, Brute?", Caesar's dying rebuke.
19. Cheep place to stay?: NEST. Puns on "cheap".
24. Ambulance letters: EMS
29. Welcoming ones: GREETERS
31. Revolutionary pamphleteer: PAINE (Thomas)
32. Crowd seen at a film festival?: EXTRAS. Excellent clue.
33. Around the corner: NEAR
34. Marketing pro: ADMAN
37. "Beowulf," for one: EPIC. Beowulf is an epic poem.
39. Indiana senator: BAYH (Evan)
40. Beantown team, casually: SOX. Red Sox.
41. Certain PCs: IBMS
42. Early matchmaker: NOAH. Noah collected a pair of each animal on his ark. Brilliant clue.
43. Type of therapy: GENE. Have never heard of gene therapy before.
44. Film feline: ELSA. The "Born Free" lioness.
45. Aquarium swimmer: TETRA
46. Riding for __: acting overconfidently: A FALL. Courting for danger. New idiom to me also.
48. Yankees' #5, familiarly: DIMAG. Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.
52. Govt. security: T-NOTE. OK, T-Bills mature in one year or less. T-Notes mature in two to ten years. And Treasury Bonds mature in ten or more years.
53. Flight training milestone: SOLO
54. Iowa State home: AMES
56. Classy entranceway: ARCH. Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
60. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS. Gimme for Matt (Red State Democrat) I am sure. Alien to me.
2. Maine town named for a Penobscot chief: ORONO. Good to know.
3. Eccentric: DOTTY
4. Bear witness: ATTEST
5. __ XII, WWII pope: PIUS. There are 12 pope named Pius.
6. Text-interpreting technology, briefly: OCR (Optical Character Reader)
7. Flattened: PANCAKED. Did not know pancake can be a verb.
8. Gulf War foe: SADDAM
9. Poet John who translated Dante's "Divine Comedy": CIARDI. Stranger to me.
11. Mideast political gp.: PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Rival of Hamas.
12. Letter before upsilon: TAU. Greek T.
13. Sicilian resort: ENNA. The Sicilian volcano is ETNA.
14. Put through one's paces again: REDRILL. RETRACE jumped to my mind.
15. Copter blades: ROTORS
16. Curling gadget: IRON
17. Legal opening?: PARA. Paralegal.
18. Rebuke before the senate: ET TU. Roman senate. "Et tu, Brute?", Caesar's dying rebuke.
19. Cheep place to stay?: NEST. Puns on "cheap".
24. Ambulance letters: EMS
29. Welcoming ones: GREETERS
31. Revolutionary pamphleteer: PAINE (Thomas)
32. Crowd seen at a film festival?: EXTRAS. Excellent clue.
33. Around the corner: NEAR
34. Marketing pro: ADMAN
37. "Beowulf," for one: EPIC. Beowulf is an epic poem.
39. Indiana senator: BAYH (Evan)
40. Beantown team, casually: SOX. Red Sox.
41. Certain PCs: IBMS
42. Early matchmaker: NOAH. Noah collected a pair of each animal on his ark. Brilliant clue.
43. Type of therapy: GENE. Have never heard of gene therapy before.
44. Film feline: ELSA. The "Born Free" lioness.
45. Aquarium swimmer: TETRA
46. Riding for __: acting overconfidently: A FALL. Courting for danger. New idiom to me also.
48. Yankees' #5, familiarly: DIMAG. Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.
52. Govt. security: T-NOTE. OK, T-Bills mature in one year or less. T-Notes mature in two to ten years. And Treasury Bonds mature in ten or more years.
53. Flight training milestone: SOLO
54. Iowa State home: AMES
56. Classy entranceway: ARCH. Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
60. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS. Gimme for Matt (Red State Democrat) I am sure. Alien to me.
63. Slob's creation: MESS
65. Farm storage spots: SILOS
67. Ticker tapes, briefly?: EKGS. The heart ticker chart.
68. Second time to the top: REASCENT. Well, I guess you can just RE anything.
69. Sass: GUFF. Also a new word to me.
70. Pollster Roper: ELMO. Another unfamiliar name. He was the the first to develop the scientific poll for political forecasting. And he predicted the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt correctly, all three times ((1936, 1940, 1944).
71. Warning: ALERT
72. Far from fragrant: FETID
73. New York town on the Susquehanna: TIOGA. No idea. See this map. I presume it's a Native Indian word. What does it mean, Argyle?
75. Reagan biographer Peggy: NOONAN. "When Character Was King" has been sitting on my bookshelf forever, unread.
77. Discman maker: SONY
78. S&L protector: FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
79. Dr. who wrote "Sex for Dummies": RUTH
80. Word after Bay, gray or play: AREA. Bay is capitalized.
82. Magic word: POOF
83. Bite-sized food: SUSHI. Hmm, yummy yummy.
85. Pavarotti, e.g.: TENOR. Oh, by the way, I don't Italian food.
86. Metal containers: ORES. Wow, big containers then.
88. Seaside raptor: ERNS
90. Member of many an idol's fan base: TEEN
91. "Catch Me If You Can" star: DICAPRIO (Leonardo). Great movie.
94. Trendy club: HOT SPOT
98. Super Bowl XLII champs: GIANTS
99. Act as middleman, perhaps: RESELL. A rather commonly used re word.
100. It's not important: TRIFLE
102. Liquefied by heat: MOLTEN. Molten hell.
105. Rock music genre: EMO
107. Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. A secret fashionista.
108. Spring bloomers: CROCI. Plural of crocus. I was picturing pansies.
109. Accept, as a coupon: HONOR
110. Egyptian fertility goddess: ISIS. Sister and wife of Osiris.
111. Shelter org.: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Animal shelter.
112. Exactly: TO A T. "To a tee" is more common, isn't it?
113. Give an edge to: HONE. I liked this clue too.
114. Disney duck princess: OONA. No idea. Is this princess named after Oona Chaplin?
116. Support staff?: CANE. Got me.
119. Geom. class line part: SEG
120. Airer of baseball's Division Series: TBS
121. Stephen of "Interview With the Vampire": REA. He and ENYA are probably the most famous Irish names in our Xword world, outshining Bono.
122. Swab: MOP
Answer grid.
C.C.
65. Farm storage spots: SILOS
67. Ticker tapes, briefly?: EKGS. The heart ticker chart.
68. Second time to the top: REASCENT. Well, I guess you can just RE anything.
69. Sass: GUFF. Also a new word to me.
70. Pollster Roper: ELMO. Another unfamiliar name. He was the the first to develop the scientific poll for political forecasting. And he predicted the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt correctly, all three times ((1936, 1940, 1944).
71. Warning: ALERT
72. Far from fragrant: FETID
73. New York town on the Susquehanna: TIOGA. No idea. See this map. I presume it's a Native Indian word. What does it mean, Argyle?
75. Reagan biographer Peggy: NOONAN. "When Character Was King" has been sitting on my bookshelf forever, unread.
77. Discman maker: SONY
78. S&L protector: FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
79. Dr. who wrote "Sex for Dummies": RUTH
80. Word after Bay, gray or play: AREA. Bay is capitalized.
82. Magic word: POOF
83. Bite-sized food: SUSHI. Hmm, yummy yummy.
85. Pavarotti, e.g.: TENOR. Oh, by the way, I don't Italian food.
86. Metal containers: ORES. Wow, big containers then.
88. Seaside raptor: ERNS
90. Member of many an idol's fan base: TEEN
91. "Catch Me If You Can" star: DICAPRIO (Leonardo). Great movie.
94. Trendy club: HOT SPOT
98. Super Bowl XLII champs: GIANTS
99. Act as middleman, perhaps: RESELL. A rather commonly used re word.
100. It's not important: TRIFLE
102. Liquefied by heat: MOLTEN. Molten hell.
105. Rock music genre: EMO
107. Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. A secret fashionista.
108. Spring bloomers: CROCI. Plural of crocus. I was picturing pansies.
109. Accept, as a coupon: HONOR
110. Egyptian fertility goddess: ISIS. Sister and wife of Osiris.
111. Shelter org.: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Animal shelter.
112. Exactly: TO A T. "To a tee" is more common, isn't it?
113. Give an edge to: HONE. I liked this clue too.
114. Disney duck princess: OONA. No idea. Is this princess named after Oona Chaplin?
116. Support staff?: CANE. Got me.
119. Geom. class line part: SEG
120. Airer of baseball's Division Series: TBS
121. Stephen of "Interview With the Vampire": REA. He and ENYA are probably the most famous Irish names in our Xword world, outshining Bono.
122. Swab: MOP
Answer grid.
C.C.
36 comments:
126. Stuffs: SATES. Read "Stuffs" as noun.
Oh, dear. Stuff cannot be plural. It's like homework, artwork, equipment, wildlife, staff, furniture or vocabulary. These words are never plural because they always refer to a mass and never any individual. It's a common mistake. I was telling students about this just last week.
Martin
The Knicks will honor Yankees manager Joe Girardi with the November "City Spirit" Award, given to someone who's made a "significant difference in the lives of others" during Sunday's game against Boston. Driving home the night of the World Series clincher, he stopped to aid a female motorist who had been injured in an accident.
WORLD WIDE PANTS
Morning, all!
It took me awhile to get the theme today, but once I did I was able to blow through the theme answers pretty quickly. It helped that they were all relatively common phrases and thus easy (for me) to guess once I figured out the anagram of the clues.
A few missteps, such as SOHO for MOMA, but nothing too bad. Overall, I made slow but steady progress throughout. My one notable sticking point was seeing TOO TOO (not familiar with that phrase) crossing TIOGA (never heard of it). I left that until the end, but once I had TOOT_O I figured there was only one thing it could be. I'm still not crazy about it, though.
Oh -- and one typo kept me from getting the "tada!" when I thought I had solved the puzzle. It took me a bit to find where I had misspelled SADDAM as SADAAM. I should have caught it earlier, since CMAR really didn't make any sense for a NASA rank, but I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention at first...
Good morning, C.C. and gang - this was one of my favorite Sunday puzzles ever. Absolutely ingenious theme and great cluing.
22A, glossophobia got me; in my simple mind, I figured that was a fear of shiny things. Similarly, only the perps got me 'Ionesco' and 'Ciardi'. On the flip side, I loved 'Ticker tapes, briefly?' and 'Pieces of 8?'.
As I said, just a great puzzle; nice way to start a Sunday morning. Hope it's a great one for everyone.
Today is Go For a Ride Day.
78. S&L protector: FDIC
FDIC is a United States government corporation created by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. The FDIC insures deposits at 8,195 institutions.
FDIC
FICA is is a United States payroll tax imposed by the federal government on both employees and employers to fund Social Security and Medicare
FICA
Yes CC,
Lars Ulrich was a gimme for me. I have listened to the band since 1983 When their 1st commerical album Kill 'Em All was released. My sister and pooled our allowances together to buy it.
A very ingenious theme, and while many may not like the concept, the use of anagrams within a puzzle is very fun.
STUFFS is not a noun with an S for plural, it is a a verb to describe the process; if he STUFFS his face with candy bars, he SATES his desire for chocolate.
Well Mr. Unpack and organize must get back at it; later
Good morning!
I had trouble today because of this XW's heavy reliance on jargon as well as names and trivia. It's all a cultural thing.
I've never seen POOF used in magic, never heard of EMO, or a TAGSALE couldn't remember that DICAPRIO and not DAMON was in that movie, had no idea what B'way referred to--thought of beltway, or some sort of tollroad. If Barry G, on the east coast, had never heard of TIOGA, what chance the rest of us? Also had trouble with TOO TOO--sounds so too too yuppy
Used a lot of red letters and guessing today and got the theme after the first one, so that helped.
Good Morning, CC and Friends. Not being an anagram fan, I couldn't for the life of me figure out the theme. I got GOT TURNED AROUND and GEAR SHIFT, but couldn't see any connection with the clue. I soldiered on, but needed your explanation to understand the theme clues.
There were some great fresh clues in this puzzle. It was nice seeing ORONO clued as something other than a city in Maine. We had PIED last week, but I still didn't get the answer until the perps had filled in the PIE. Then I had my D'Oh moment.
Some of my favorite clues this morning were: Early Matchmaker: NOAH; Support Staff: CANE and Pots creator: ANTE.
Since I had to hit the g-spot so many times in this puzzle, here is today's ...
QOD: The Internet is just the world passing around notes in a classroom. ~ Jon Stewart
A mental marathon today, for sure. Resorted to red letter early on and g'd a lot more than I like. I don't know how everyone comes up with the theme so quickly. I never get it until late in the puzzle, or, like today, never. Very clever.
Perhaps it is a regional thing, but to me soda pop ia not a soft drink choice, it is a synonym. A soft drink choice would be Pepsi or Diet Coke, et al. So, right off the bat I was cross with this one.
Had melted instead of molten at 102D, so that corner was messed up for a while.
I remember listening to baseball on the radio during DiMaggio's time, but I don't remember ever hearing him called "Dimag."
I can agree with the use of stuffs in the sense of: "I don't see how he stays so slim. He stuffs himself all the time." or something similar.
Hahtool, I think of the internet as a giant database. Hubby thinks of it as a giant shopping mall. College professors think of it as a giant cheating network.
Our forecast was for overnight lows in the low 30s, but the lowest I saw was 42º at 6 am. Need rain.
Boy, this was a tough one for me, especially the NW! About the time I was ready to give up with maybe only half the puzzle filled out, I caught on to the acronym theme, which gave me the oomph to finish! I didn't realize the rest of the answer was a version of the word change, until I came here.
A lot of great clues today! EXTRAS, NOAH, EKGS, CANE.
I already had the C for COSM, but thought it was Micro-CHIP. I should have gotten OCR, but couldn't remember the acronym. Filled in by the perps though.
C.C.: For 86A Metal containers = ORES. One of the more science-minded people here may correct me on this, but I don't think it was talking about an actual container (ie. jar, bottle, cart, tram, etc.). I think it's referring to once ORES are processed, the metals are extracted from it. So the metals are contained in the ORES...
I always thought the phrase was Fit "TO A T", and was surprised to see it in a puzzle recently as Fit "TO A TEE". I don't know if it's referring to T being the last letter in Fit, the shape of the letter, a T-square tool used in drawing (?) and construction, or a man's shape when he's fit (broad shoulders, trim waist, etc.).
Hatool: I liked your QOD! Very appropriate.
Time for me to "Go for a ride" and get some things done today. Have a nice day all!
Red state DEMOCRAT, good catch on that FICA/FDIC. I skimmed right over it.
wow, absolutely brilliant puzzle. mom and i were working it side-by-side and the steady chorus of ohhh's and aha's was fun.
a recent puzzle had an anagramed theme, but i thought this one was much more sparkly, as c.c. would say. really fun. loved it.
barb b and i both agree with dcannon about SODA POP, but i can't quarrel with anything else. so many genius clues and answers. nice to see ARLO clued in a new way. PIED seems to be a new favorite, i think this makes three times in a week.
have a great sunday all, i know i will.
Re: Tioga. Tioga, NY, is a county and a township within that county but isn't a village.
"The county name derives from Indian term for "at the forks", per epodunk.com
From a response on ohwejagehkahadegaenage.yuku.com: "Tioga is an Iroquois name meaning 'where it forks', 'at the forks,' 'swift current,' or 'a gate'. The name has been preserved in counties, towns, and a river in Pennsylvania and New York."
From the maps, I faied to see any river forks at the NY site.
The name Tioga comes from an Iroquois word meaning “swift current.” It is also a Seneca name meaning “the meeting of two rivers.” according to whoi.edu.
Other claims: Peaceful Valley or Gateway, etc..
In any case, it is on the Susquehanna River and the NY/PA border. County Map
Good Morning All, Talk about a picket fence effect, today was more like a fence that had been bulldozed, rebuilt and then bulldozed again.
I thought I was pretty smart when I filled in GOT TURNED AROUND. "Ahh", sez me, "Obviously, since the clue is TOG, all I have to do is reverse the other theme clues and enter them as the first part of remaining theme answers." NOT!!!
I finally gave up on that brilliant idea (What kind of a word is SSENBILG?) and started over.
Since I am not an anagram kind of person, this was a tough slog all the way. I spent much more of my Sunday morning on this than I am willing to admit.
I finally had to leave the SE corner with a few empty spaces. I couldn't summon up CROCI, CLARO, or IONESCO.
I'm not complaining about the difficulty level. It was fair for a Sunday biggie. But my brain struggled mightily over this one.
Favorites today were the clues "Monk's address" for FRA and "Canal locale" for INNER EAR.
I'm with DCannon about the "giant data base". We often settle domestic discussions with trips to the computer to get the answers to all kind of questions.
Argyle said, ohwejagehkahadegaenage.yuku.com
What?? Did your keyboard run amok?
I thought it was great. And have to agree with Kazie. I grew up in Upstate New York and never heard of Tioga. Bogus clue. In terms of letters, thought of Utica but that's the Mohawk River. Oh well.
On the clue for TIOGA. It is "New York town on the Susquehanna." As someone who has done some searching of land records for ancestor's information, I think "town" in this case is a valid reference to what most of us would call at "township."
Let's quote Wiki on this: "In the United States of America, the meaning of the term town varies from state to state. In some states, a town is an incorporated municipality, that is, one with a charter received from the state, similar to a city (see incorporated town). In others, a town is unincorporated. In most places, town refers to a small incorporated municipality of less than 10,000 people, although some of these municipalities may be called "cities."
The types of municipalities in U.S. states include cities, towns, boroughs, villages, and townships, although most states do not have all five types. Many states do not use the term "town" for incorporated municipalities. In some states, like New England states, New York and Wisconsin, "town" is used in the same way that civil township is used elsewhere. In other states, such as Michigan, the term "town" has no official meaning and is simply used informally to refer to a populated place, whether incorporated or not."
Tschuß
All the talk of forks for Tioga made me think of Johnny Carson's skit on the "fork in the road", but I couldn't find a link for it anywhere.
@Kazie, the fork was a running joke in Johnny's "Art Fern" character Tea Time Movie commercials. In this sketch, it doesn't show up until almost all the way to the end, about 9:43 in.
Thanks Al!
Argyle,
You're Welcome.
RSD
WOW! What a stellar creation! We have been so spoiled this week with beautifully constructed puzzles with wonderfully clever cluing. I "GOT" today's theme with the first theme entry, which helped for a number of subsequent theme answers. Some favorite clues were 63A "Cock and bull", 42D "Early matchmaker", and 86D "Metal containers".
As for SODAPOP for 1A "Soft drink option", perhaps it could be reasoned that any beverage without alcohol could be considered "soft" as opposed to "hard". With this line of thought, beverages such as sparkling ciders or even carbonated mineral waters could also be considered soft drinks.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Good afternoon C.C. and all, a difficult, but fun puzzle today. I had to walk away several times, but did manage to complete the puzzle with only two trips to the G-spot. The theme was a long time in revealing itself to me and did not appear until I had several of the answers completed.
Hope you all have a great Sunday
Since we did not hear from Mr. Bessette, I believe soft drink choice is legitmate, because it is a a choice of words, i.e. in the midwest, you choose to refer to Coke as SODA POP, or POP while in the northeast people often order a SOFT DRINK, making a different choice of words. If the clue were choice of soda pop, then it would have ot have been a type.
But then i was atrial lawyer, and never have learned to keep my mouth shut- especially for you Sweet Tart.
Hi gang -
After my trip to VA, I'm quite out of touch with the corner. hope everyone is well.
Went to the OSU-Mich game yesterday with my son-in-law. Tailgated close to the stadium; had filet mignon, shrip, Wolverine beer and Crown Royal at 9:30 a.m. Quite an experience. The crew next to us - five guys and a gal - drove up from Columbus in a big van with an HD antenna and a 42 in. flat screen TV, and watched the game tailgating. Pretty impressive. We shared the booze with them, and they gave us cookies.
Lots of red in the stadium. Mich fans must have bailed on this game. Sad way to end their season. I'm a Buckeye fan of course. My son-in-law is Mich all the way. And Nate was born at U of M hospital and they saved his life. So,I do have some sympathy.
I'm here vary late and not many posts. Is that typical for a Sunday? I never noticed.
Truly brilliant puzzle today. I'm not going to critique much, since I feel very mentally sluggish. Still, technical virtuosity can be more impressive than fun. Like Paganini's music. I had to rely on more red letters than I want to admit - including a couple of theme answers. It escaped me totally.
But perfect for Jerome - where are you, amigo?
The LW and Doug are both better, Tom is home, and I have a nice martini in easy reach. Life is good.
Here is a cool (so to speak) jazz version of ALL OF ME
with some tasty slide work.
Cheers!
JzB the good-life trombonist
Fun puzzle today. I was determined to get the theme, but it took forever. CHANGE OF HEART was my breakthrough. That gave me the anagram part, ALTEREGO gave me the change synonyms.
SODAPOP works for me as an option, with a crosswordese twist.
SE corner was a mess since I put IRINA and CACTI.
52 degrees in November is AOK!
A Sunday puzzle should be fun and not like having to deal with Monday morning.
I wish today's WOW meant what they used to. I remember when a car ride was fun and was meant to be enjoyed. "Let's go for a ride," was a magical Sunday afternoon invitation from my father, for my mother and me to climb into the family's 1947 Dodge sedan and head off to parts unknown. We traveled through miles of orange groves and then past hundreds of oil wells without even seeing a freeway. Without a car radio, my parents harmonized on dozens of songs. Listening, I learned them too. We always finished off with an ice cream cone, or on a chilly day, a cup of hot chocolate.
On the other hand, there is this amusing and slightly DF poem about what might be the surprising effects of travel. I had no idea that poet Edna could be so whimsical.
The Unexplorer
There was a road ran past our house
Too lovely to explore.
I asked my mother once -- she said
That if you followed where it led
It brought you to the milk-man's door.
(That's why I have not travelled more.)
- Edna St. Vincent Millay
T-Day Theme: My local paper, The Post-Star, carries the TMS' Observer Crossword edited by Charles Preston, the constructor is uncredited. It comes as a PDF and can be print out on one page, but have your glasses handy.
The answers won't appear untill next week but I may blog it. We'll see.
Good afternoon CC, et al., Great puzzle but could only fully appreciate it after I came here. Didn't know what was meant by the capitalization of the clue itself. Thank you, CC. I'll be ready for the next one. Very clever.
Started getting excited when 20A erotica showed up and immediately thought of one of our most
'honor'able 'males' here when that was coupled (punny!) with 21A airlane, thinking of his membership in the Mile High Club. Thought that was 'too too' funny. Wonder if the 'out of order sign' was put on that lavatory or possibly a sign stating
"'hotspot': 'redrill'ing in process. This is only 'attest'. Please use forward cabin". 'Iter' way, the 'area' was cleared and his 'honor' was 'in-t'act and her offers were 'chosen'. So, it was 'honor' and offer 'til the 'rotors' stopped or until the 'taxman' cometh. What a 'day' (or night) that must've been!
It's cool here so it won't be hot 'tamale'. Rain probably so flood recovery will be delayed with things 'left in disarray' for a while longer. It's all good tho'. Katie is still improving and time is the only crucial factor here - for her and the repair.
CA: cute poem. I would be burnin' that road slam up now!
I wish a speedy recovery to those who are recovering from surgeries, illnesses, and the doldrums: Lorraine, Jeannie, and Dan...how is he?
Enjoy your night.
LEMON-GLAZED SWEET POTATOES
Simple Fresh Southern
2 pounds sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1-inch-thick slices. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with
butter. Arrange the sweet potato dish in a single layer in the pan. Mix the brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt in a small
bowl, and pour the glaze mixture evenly over the potatoes. Cover the bakig dish with aluminum foil, and bake until the potatoes are
fork-tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for about five more minutes, until the
glaze has thickened and become syrupy. Serve immediately. (The potatoes can be cooked in advance and stored in the refrigerator, and reheated in a warm oven.
BISCUITS & GRAVY
MJ's reasoning re: soft vs hard drink choice makes sense. So does Lemonade's (another soft drink choice?) suggestion of the regionalism soda pop/soft drink choice. My personal choice is to just say what I want, i.e. root beer, Diet Coke, et al.
Time to take it to bed, y'all!
I thought this was a challenging but fun puzzle with a lot of great clues. I especially liked EKGS and CANE and NOAH made me laugh out loud.
I had a hard time getting started and the NW corner was the last to fall but in the end had only one letter wrong, which I think I would have caught if I hadn't been sick. I had TAP ALE instead of TAMALE for 49A, which made 34D ADPAN. That didn't make sense but my brain wouldn't work any more today.
CC, thanks for the explanation about the capitalized clues. I'll have to remember that.
Valerie
Good evening, all.
RAISA Gorbachev was described by one humorist as "the first Russian First Lady who doesn't look like Trotsky." That's a good line but I can't find the source at the moment...
Tough but welcome challenge in Bessette's big grid. Eight theme answers, all clever, and best of all, gettable even for someone like me who is lousy at anagrams. Jerome is lucky he isn't on speed-dial!
SE corner wasn't too forgiving, so I bounced around in the southern half. SEGAR, Disney duckette OONA and TIOGA required a visit to Google to verify my guesses. Never heard of "Riding for a fall." I'm not frou frou or chi chi enough to know TOO TOO.
Got IONESCO & CIARDI off the bat--not sure how. Clever clues all over, espec. for FRA, ANTES and EKGs.
NYT does a lot of anagrams, but I don't recall seeing them too often here in LA LA land. Fun stuff!
Clear and helpful write up, as always C.C.
ClearAyes, another laugh-out-loud poem. They still have a milkman or two in some areas, but not here. We do have Peapod, though.
Jeannie...that looks like a cranberry pecan tart/pie recipe. There is no end to your culinary talents. I think you ought to branch off into catering. Screw Burger King.
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