Theme: Heavy Duty - Tax can precede each part of the theme answer. "Heavy duty" indeed!
22A. *Memorabilia at a reunion : YEARBOOKS. Tax year. Tax book.
33A. *Venus's undoing, perhaps : SERVICE BREAK. Tax service. Tax break. Venus Williams.
41A. *Reason to agree to a pact : TREATY BENEFIT. Tax treaty. Tax benefit.
22A. *Memorabilia at a reunion : YEARBOOKS. Tax year. Tax book.
33A. *Venus's undoing, perhaps : SERVICE BREAK. Tax service. Tax break. Venus Williams.
41A. *Reason to agree to a pact : TREATY BENEFIT. Tax treaty. Tax benefit.
68A. *Political platform buzzword : PRO-LIFE. Tax pro. What is "tax life"?
89A. *One profiting from bad debts : BILL COLLECTOR. Tax bill. Tax collector.
98A. *Frequent health care event : RATE INCREASE. Tax rate. Tax increase.
113A. *Contract seeker : FREE AGENT. Tax-free. Tax agent.
25D. *Sales promotion component : REBATE FORM. Tax rebate. Tax form.
60D. *Many a bank record : CREDIT FILE. Tax credit. Tax file.
1D. With 115-Down, make a required contribution : PAY
115. See 1-Down, and word that can precede both parts of the answers to starred clues : TAX
We also have:
74. 1040 ID : SSN
87. 1040, line 32 deduction : IRA
Timely theme. The rich ore of "tax" words made it possible for the constructor to pick up common words/phrases instead of making up wacky phrases for the double "precede" gimmick.
Quite a few sailing terms:
31A. Harbor-at-dawn skyline highlights : MASTS
97A. Sailing teams : CREWS
5D. Sailor's array : KNOTS
81D. Stem : PROW. New word to me. Ship's front.
82D. Tools for 97-Across : OARS
112D. Nautical rope : TYE. New word to me also.
Maybe the constructor loves sailing.
Total 84 black squares in the grid, more than our normal offering. Could be the result of the theme entry intersection.
Across:
1. Shut (in) : PEN. Pigs might nail this answer. Not me. Actually I'm a pig.
4. It may have rollers : SKATE
9. Jilt : SPURN. Jilted lover.
14. Health care reform lobbying group : AARP
18. Affirmative often repeated : AYE
19. About to undergo : IN FOR
20. Simplifies : EASES
21. Sand's "which" : QUEL. French for "which". George Sand was a French writer. Chopin's lover. Great clue!
24. Santa kisser of song : MOMMY. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".
25. Cardinal manager Tony La __ : RUSSA
26. VW antecedents? : STU. Alphabet.
27. Dance step : TOE TAP. And 100A. Line dance : CONGA & 23D. Latin dance : RUMBA. Dance clechos.
29. Preserve, in a way : CAN. Put in ICE first.
30. All gone : EATEN
36. Carping comments : BARBS
39. Gussy up : PREEN
40. Peter, Paul and Mary : SAINTS. Not the trio.
46. Ones with "Esq." on the door : ATTs
47. Ballpark figure : UMP. Not EST.
48. Italian fashion giant : ARMANI. So are Gucci, Prada & Versace.
49. Boonies pests : SKEETERS. Mosquitoes.
53. GPS part: Abbr. : SYST
55. Vientiane's land : LAOS. Has anyone tried Bánh mì? Bill G might have.
56. Opinion : BELIEF
58. Long. partner : LAT
59. Chills : ICEs
61. Carnegie __ University : MELLON
63. Cheri of "SNL" : OTERI. Very crossword-friendly name.
65. Indiana cagers : PACERS
70. Lost parcel inquiry : TRACER
71. Skyline highlight : SPIRE
72. '50s-'60s teen idol Frankie : AVALON. Now it's all about that kid Justin Bieber.
73. Caper : ROMP
75. Not solid, linewise : DOTTED
77. Representation : ICON
79. Dog food brand : ALPO
83. Sunrise liquors : TEQUILAS. Tequila Sunrise.
85. Cooking oil seed : CANOLA. From the unpleasant-sounding rapeseed. I wanted SESAME.
88. Accident investigation agcy. : NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)
93. Nancy Reagan designer : ADOLFO (Domínguez). Not familiar with the name.
96. Piano part : PEDAL
103. It might be civil or criminal : TRIAL
104. Part of a self-satisfied laugh : HEH. Heh Heh!
105. Dog asleep on a roof : SNOOPY. "Peanuts".
107. Tina's ex : IKE (Turner)
110. Wash away slowly : ERODE
111. Last Supper query : IS IT I
116. Forfeit : LOSE
117. "Fiddler on the Roof" dairyman : TEVYE. Tradition! Tradition! Tradition!
118. Bliss in Texas et al. : FORTS. Fort Bliss. Named after a soldier with a surname Bliss.
119. 1959 Kingston Trio hit : MTA
120. Scand. land : SWED
121. Beef source : STEER
122. Narc's discovery : STASH
123. "A __ of this gout!": "King Henry IV, Part 2" : POX
Down:
2. Watchers : EYES
3. Shipshape : NEAT
4. Sis or bro : SIB
6. Happening : AFOOT
7. Puffs of grass? : TOKES. Marijuana.
8. Before, before : ERST
9. Gyrene's motto : SEMPER FI. First encounter with gyrene, an alteration of GI + (ma)rine. We also have USMC VET (11. John P. Sousa, e.g.). Both Dennis & Argyle are.
10. Kung __ chicken : PAO
12. Sit tight : REMAIN
13. Justin Timberlake's former band : 'N SYNC
14. Fish keeper : AQUARIST
15. "Emma" novelist : AUSTEN
16. Move, as a restaurant patron : RESEAT
17. Political objectives : PLANKS.
28. Quaker at a ski resort? : ASPEN. Tree.
32. Caracas hrs. : AST
34. Portuguese king : REI. Rey in Spanish.
35. Big name in cosmetics : ESTEE
36. A/C units : BTUs
37. Military force : ARMY. My Dad served in the Chinese army.
38. Gym count : REPs (Repetitions)
42. Certain locks : YALES
43. Support providers : BRAs
44. Rock genre that evolved from punk : EMO
45. "If I Ruled the World" rapper : NAS
46. Similar : AKIN
49. Gin fizz flavoring : SLOE
50. Like some heat: Abbr. : ELEC
51. More red than pink : RARE. Meat.
52. Foment, with "up" : STIR
54. Level : TIER
56. Russian pancake : BLIN. Plural is blini.
57. Little helper : ELF
61. Shape : MOLD
62. "Evil Woman" gp. : ELO
64. Cantina appetizer : TAPA. Always in plural form, no?
65. Surreptitious signal : PSST
66. Basilica area : APSE
67. Six preceder : CINQ. French for "five". Six is just six. Two French for Splynter!
68. Ryan and Benjamin: Abbr. : PVTs (Privates)
69. "Norma __" : RAE
70. Harmonic : TONAL
72. Words after run or split : A TAB
73. Vegas toss : ROLL
76. "Come on down!" announcer : OLSON (Johnny)
77. "Monsters, __" : INC
78. Doves do it : COO. So do lovers.
80. Not as rich, commercially : LITE
84. Decaf, facetiously : UNLEADED
85. More chic : CLASSIER
86. Wrench name : ALLEN
89. Center of activity : BEEHIVE
90. Mont. neighbor : IDA
91. Lines from the heart, briefly : ECG. EKG too.
92. Online guy with a list : CRAIG. Cragslist.
93. Soviet cooperatives : ARTELS. Learned from doing Xword.
94. Scopes Trial attorney : DARROW(Clarence). Monkey Trial.
95. Futile : OTIOSE. Man, it's a real word. Listed in the dictionary.
96. Modern oven option : PRESET
99. Vouchers : CHITS
100. Barbizon school artist : COROT. Wiki said he's the leading painter of the Barbizon School of France in the mid-nineteenth century. Landscape painter.
101. It may be comic : OPERA
102. Novgorod negatives : NYETs. I was ignorant of the Russian city Novgorod.
106. Does away with : OFFs
108. Dole running mate : KEMP (Jack)
109. Within: Pref. : ENTO. Opposite of exo.
114. Hardwood tree : ASH
Answer grid.
Do come back next Sunday for Dan Naddor's final puzzle.
C.C.
39 comments:
Hello.
Yippie! Doesn't matter what Detroit does tomorrow. I'll have time to finish the puzzle.
Hello Puzzlers - Didn't encounter too many pitfalls despite its being about 1 AM EDT. We've been deep into tax prep lately, and I bet we're not alone.
Confidently put TOKES right in. No further comment. Had trouble seeing where we were going with USMC-- until perps got there. TYE is all new to me, as is ARTEL.
Are there people who actually know who Nancy Reagan's designer was?
Maybe somebody can tell me why King Henry didn't say "a pox ON this gout" which seems to make more sense.
Sleep on, fellow weary travelers, and write soon.
As of 4:00 AM, not available on my computer. For some reason, the Hartford paper does not offer the Sunday LAT puzzle.
I'm in the same boat as Hondo. No Sunday LAT puzzle for me... :(
Hondo & Barry,
Click here. You'll need to move the arrow bars (right and bottom) to solve the whole puzzle. Litsoft (owner of Across Lite) conversion is only great for 15*15 sized grids.
Otis,
So, readers have to depend on Splynter for NEA explanation? They can't google themselves? Try to blog a weekday puzzle yourself after a long day of work and see how long it takes and how detailed you can cover! Then do it week after week!
I've got Google Analytics installed in the blog and I know which kind of clues often give readers trouble. Tricky wordplay clues (where Google is futile) is almost always explained in the write-up.
Blogging is a very subjective matter. Splynter is entitled to express his dislikes or likes. You are entitled to voice your view on his blogging style too, of course. Nothing wrong with it.
Thanks for doing that, C.C. I've now completed the puzzle. And that's really my only comment on it, to be honest.
OK, Hondo, maybe you haven't tried yet. I worked out a better version. Click here. It allows a PDF print-out (lower right corner).
Good morning C.C., I believe TAX LIFE is the estimated life of a depreciating asset. E.g. your company buys a van for delivery. It has a tax life of 5 years, so you can deduct the diminution in value over that period. Of course I may be entirely wrong as I hate tax law and taxes. Where are the CPAs?
Good morning, CC and Sunday solvers.
This one was fairly easy, I thought. The theme is rather timely with the tax deadline looming. Maybe I should get busy and do mine. My step-daughter is working on her masters degree in accounting, studying for the CPA exam and wants to specialize in tax acccounting... Where did we go wrong?
There were a few unknowns to add to my knowledge base, but most were solid fill with the perps. The 'A' at the cross of ADOLFO/ARTELS was somewhat of a wag, as neither was a known to me. 'A' was the only vowel that looked like it belonged on the designer's name, though.
Lemonade, you're spot on regarding TAX LIFE.
I can't say I sashayed through this one... more like TOE TAPped my way around the grid, picking off the low hanging fruit and going back to fill the missing entries.
Had USMC rET, before the perps got the 'V'.
Good Morning, CC and Friends. I couldn't get too engaged in today's Sunday puzzle. We did get our Taxes completed this week, although state taxes are not due for another month.
I initially tried OUI OUI for an Affirmative Often Repeated. Oops, it's also AYE AYE.
I also immediately wrote in OSHA for Accident Investigation Agt. Oops, that NTSB, which is also something I am familiar with.
Cantina Appetizer = TAPA. Bet you can't eat just one!
Like Dudley, I immediately entered TOKES for Puffs of Grass. No inhaling, though.
I wasn't fooled by the Peter, Paul and Mary clue = SAINTS. We've seen it clued like that before.
QOD: People will buy anything that is one to a customer. ~ Sinclair Lewis
Good Morning C.C. and all,
Want to comment on one of last night’s posts.
First, I’d like to add my opinion of Splynter’s blogging style . His voice is very refreshing. He displays a lot of your conversational, non egotistical manner; a quality often found in good ’story-teller’ authors, who gently take your hand and lead you through it. He makes you genuinely like him and want to listen to what he has to say. As far as a comment on every item- I personally start skimming through it all. I’m wanting to check answers and find out what’s remote to me. If I don’t find it, I’ll google it. To balance that off, I do enjoy the explanations and obscurities and links from time to time. Just saying, I’m glad you found Splynter and that he’s willing to give us his time. Thanks.
Susan’s 'tax deadline reminder' was a lot of fun. The archaic , colorful use of ‘required contribution’ set the tongue in cheek mood for the puzzle for me. My fav clues were many: jilt, Sand’s “which”, gussy up, Boonies pests, puff of grass, Gyrene’s motto, certain locks, support providers, more red than pink, stem.
Yes, Dudley, as soon as ARTEL and DARROW went in, I knew ADOLFO. As Lucina so aptly put it, this was as clear to some as sports are to others. Thanks, Susan.
Beautiful day here; hope that’s how your world is.
Have a nice day everyone.
Good Morning All, I'm afraid I'm with Barry G. and Hahtool. I just didn't really get into this puzzle.
The theme phrases were clever. Maybe it was just the TAX subject that didn't entertain. GAH and I are short form retirees and I don't want to think about taxes any more than I absolutely have to.
It seemed like a lot of the fill was ordinary stuff like EMO, SLOE, RAE, APSE and so on. I understand that a Sunday constructor has to fill in a lot of squares and it can get kind of hum-drum.
There were some "sharpies" like 11D John P. Sousa, e.g./USMC VET, 14D Fish keeper/AQUARIST and I got a smile out of 49A Boonies pests/SKEETERS
Lemonade, thanks for the explanation of TAX LIFE, although I'm afraid I will have forgotten it by tomorrow.
My opinion is that it is the differences in preferences and areas of expertise that make each blogger write-up interesting. Carry on Splynter.
Hello, Sunday solvers! C.C., you rock!
This was a nice Sunday ROMP. I sashayed through some of it though had a few dumb errors which the blog set straight. TEVIE, not TEVYE, ATAS instead of ATAB, MISTS instead of MASTS and MDA in lieu of MTA thus ENDO, not ENTO.
Otherwise I found this very clever with a few Russian: clechos ARTEL, NYETS, BLIN. And yes, ADOLFO was a WAG. Who remembers?
I thought of you, Jeannie upon seeing all the sailing references.
You have to blame Shakespeare for "A POX of this gout!" The king may or may not have said it though it is well known he had gout.
Have a wonderful Sunday, all!
Otis at 4:42am On my kit, both the reel and LINE were "held" (suspended) on the rod via some metal thingymabobs
It is surprising, given your criticism of yesterday's blogging, that you didn't look up the names of those 'thingymabogs'
1. "Reel Seat: This is where your reel gets attached to the rod. There are different mechanisms available to attach the reel. Some rods will have rings that go over the reel foot. Most rods have some sort of hood mechanism that screws either up or down on the foot of the reel to keep it in place."
2. "Guides: These are the rings you see going all the way down the rod, they "guide" the line down the length of rod to the tip. The number, spacing, and size of the guides depend on the kind of rod you are using. But, generally speaking, the more guides the better. A higher quality rod will have at least one guide for every foot of its length (i.e. 6 foot rod should have at least 6 guides)."
Good Afternoon, folks. Thank you Susan for a great Sunday puzzle. Not too hard. That is refreshing. Thank you, C.C. for the commentaries and the posting. I did not know that many of you could not get to the puzzle. As usual, I buy the Sunday Trib on Saturday and dive into it Saturday night. I never knew where you could print it on Saturday. Any help? It would save me $1.99.
Enjoyed the theme of taxes, even though I have not filed mine yet. Once the theme became apparent, I was able to solve the puzzle much quicker.
Enjoyed the Sousa clue. I am a Sousa march fan, having played most of them, including "The Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" and "The Thunder", dedicated to Columbia Commandery #2, Knights Templar, of Washington, DC, of which Sousa was a member.
For 67D I had FIVE instead of CINQ. After a while the perps straightened me out. Had SAMBA for a bit instead of RUMBA. Wised up after perps.
Thought BEEHIVE was excellent for Center of Activity.
Enjoyed ALLEN wrench. Of course ALLEN is a brand name. The wrench is actually a hex key.
AARP jumped out at me, having been a member of AARP for 15 years. I used to flash my AARP card at motels, for a discount. They would say that we give that discount to everybody. It is already figured into the rate, they would say. Hmmmm.
I might work on my taxes later. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Notes from yesterday.
To Spitzboov: Yes, the Berghoff is reopened as a restaurant. However, to my dismay, it is not open on Sunday. I checked before I traveled to Chicago.
To Lucina: Our club read and reviewed The Glass Castle many months ago. We all thought it was an excellent book, non-fiction. I lived for a short time in West Virginia, near Welch, and I can relate to that area.
To Otis: Yes, I checked Analog and Analogy, etc. I agree. I was thinking electronics. Analog versus digital. My telephony background.
Abejo
I enjoyed the puzzle. Yesterday's write up by Splynter too.
C.C., no, I haven't tried Bánh Me. But I would like to. My son went to a restaurant in Santa Monica where he had crickets and scorpions.
Our taxes are done. I wish we could use the short form. No mortgage interest deduction any more but income from my newspaper column, tutoring and a few other complications have us at our friendly CPA. Good advice from him too. I'm sure I could manage on my own but going to him has become a comfortable habit.
Here's a link to an interview with Merl Reagle from Cruciverb. If you haven't seen it already, I think you will enjoy it.
Have you seen this video about a cat playing with some dolphins? I really wish I could have been there.
CC,
Thanks for your help. I just got home a shot time ago. I'll give the puzzle a try after the Masters has been completed.
Otis - As a now retired "member of the latter", NEA can be National Endowment of the Arts or National Educators Association. Never heard of a group NAE in education, it's usually clued as 'a northern negative.'
Google yields National Academy of Engineering and National Association of Evangelicals.
Personally (I wasn't a language teacher), I don't consider the L silent in chalk since it is not pronounced 'Chack' or 'Chake'.
Hello everybody. Thanks for the link(s) to today's puzzle, C.C. I opted to print out the PDF version because (1) I like solving with pencil on paper and (2) the font on screen was too small. An excellent puzzle as it turns out. I say excellent subjectively, of course, because I thought the theme as very well executed and much of the fill was fresh, new, challenging, and doable.
Yay! LW and I finished our tax filings today. Hafta pay the Feds but get a small refund from the state. Good to have it finished. Please accept my plug for Turbo Tax. Not perfect by far, but it gets the job done.
ARTEL and OTIOSE are new words for me; glad to have learned them. Also learned COROT, which was another unknown to me. Wanted SORDA for RUSSA, but I am always bad at the names of sports figures. Some of the gimmes for me were TEQUILAS, MOMMY, MELLON, OTERI, and TEVYE.
More to come.
Canola oil is indeed made out of rapeseed, which is poisonous. Animals won't eat it. I guess humans have figured out various ways of rendering poisonous and toxic substances edible, such as Japanese fugu (blowfish.)
Never had bánh mì, but now I want to.
My brother went through Army basic training at Fort Bliss, as did, I suppose, every new enlistee. He liked the area so much he went to live in El Paso after he got out of the Army. The guy was a freakin' desert rat. He and his wife now live in "Molebarrow" Massataxes.
Loved SKEETERS. Overconfidently put in NOSEEUMS at first. For a long time I stared at 68A, wondering what sort of variation of PROLIFIC that entry was. The V8 moment was long in coming.
Lots of latin dancing these last few days: conga, rumba, samba, salsa. Hmmm, Dancing With The Stars is on tomorrow.
Abejo, I deal with analog ciruits every day. Love it.
Hope some day we can use the short forms for our taxes, but don't know if our situation will ever be simple enough to do so.
Best wishes to you all.
Hi everyone,
No time for me to do the puzzle today. Back from Green Bay and after unpacking from that, it's time to do some laundry and to pack for my visit to our son and d-i-l.
Just wanted to let you all know that Al and I met as planned, together with my colleague/room mate for the convention we were attending. Al is a really nice guy and we had a great time talking and devouring wonderful food at a venue he'd suggested. No photos though. By the time I thought of it it was getting late and we had to go.
Hi There ~!
First, thank you friends for rallying behind me, and to Otis...
I'll be back.
EddyB - I can't believe it~!!
Rangers post-season~!!
This was indeed a timely puzzle, and although I am worn down with a really bad head cold, I finished it in the "allotted" time -
Took a LONG time to get TAX, too, but when I did, V-8.
TYE and ARTEL were new, but like Dudley, TOKES went right in....
COROT got me - we have a Barbizon school here on LI ( at least we did, when I was a kid) that was a hair styling school - so I was totally off-base with this one.
Lemonade, TAX LIFE, that's right - I knew that.
C.C., that Banh Mi looks good - what's the meat?
I am going back to bed -
Splynter
I had not read the late night posts so was unaware of OTIS's remarks.
I admire and appreciate all our bloggers for providing us with their time and insight which leads to further understanding and enjoyment of the puzzle. So thanks to you, Splynter, C.C. and all other bloggers.
It is also refreshing to enjoy the differing styles and personalities each brings to the task.
Please, no references to drugs (7d) tokes.
not finding much time to check in lately but wanted to say great job again yesterday, splynter.
In keeping with today's theme, I tried to find a clip of the song "Heavy Duty" from the movie, "This Is Spinal Tap". Not quite the same, but here is Spinal Tap, 27 years later on the "Unwigged and Unplugged Tour".
BigT, you reminded me that I wanted to link One Toke Over The Line. Of course it is the Lawrence Welk family verson, rather than Brewer & Shipley's less wholesome hit.
Phew, who ever said that golf on television wasn't exciting? GAH lured me into the den to watch the last half dozen holes at the Masters. I don't usually get too involved with TV golf, but it was a down to the wire finish with South African Charl Schwartzel coming in at 14 under par. OTOH, maybe I got excited because Australian hunk Adam Scott was leading right up until the 17th hole. He tied for second with fellow Australian, Jason Day.
The old order changeth, making way for the new.......
Whole new group of super young golfers- down to the wire.
I liked seeing Frankie AVALON and the title of his hit song - Venus, in one of the clues.
I also liked seeing Carnegie MELLON in the puzzle since my grandfather had been in their first graduating class.
Perfect timing of the theme. My taxes were finished today. Woo-hoo!
USMC VET 11 down John P. Sousa
CC,
I'm also a USMC Vet. Desert Storm 1991
My favourite Marine cadence
FIRED UP FEELS GOOD
Hi everyone,
First of all, I thought your bloggng was great, Splynter; equally fine was C. C.'s Sunday. (I hate doing puzzles in Across Lite, though.
Sunday was tough. Maybe partly because I am in so much pain and have to breathe through my mouth, having turned my nasal passages into onion skin with spray! Merl's was no picnic either, as I am mostly illiterate about pop, rock, rap, etc. music.
TOKES was more likely to be found in a Jones'n puzzle (have not worked any in a while; have huge backlog folder).
Most delightful answer: Snoopy. You did not have to know much about Nancy Reagan to answer the related questions!
End, Part 1
Part 2
I have a friend bitterly complaining about Turbo Tax. It's one of the reasons I spring for a CPA (this one reasonably intelligent, I think.) Those of you who read my blog yesterday (if anyone did) know that my lengthy Excel spreadsheet went in via email a few days ago, followed up by two corrections and data from American Express.
Cheers!
I couldn't find any reference to Caracas being under AST. I only found reference to VET, Venezuela Standard Time, which appears to be half-way between EST and AST, with no DST observed.
OMG, anon, you are so right. Great catch. And dangerous, too.
I went to this site and found that VST is a half-hour different from AST. I didn't know there are other time zones around the world that are a half-hour off, also.
The dangerous part is if constructors discover all those other specific time zone abbreviations.
CHADT Chatham Island Daylight Time (Pacific) UTC + 13:45 hours, for example.
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