Theme: SALE ! Today's theme relates to the "two month" period preceding the end of business for a company filing Chapter 11 -
23A. Week 1 : BUY ONE GET ONE FREE
39A. Week 2 : INVENTORY REDUCTION
57A. Week 3 : DEEP DISCOUNTS
67A. Week 4 : HUGE SAVINGS
82A. Week 5 : BLOW-OUT PRICES
97A. Week 6 : STORE-WIDE CLEARANCE
115A. Week 7 : EVERYTHING MUST GO
129A. Week 8 : CLOSED
I was there for the final days of a local hardware/paint store Pergament in 2001.
Splynter, filling in for today's blogger, who is actually today's co-constructor - C.C.~!
See both C.C. and Don's note at the end of the comments.
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Lifetime job : CAREER
7. "Let __ eat cake!" : THEM
11. "__ meant was ..." : ALL I
15. "Loser" rocker : BECK - music; for me, his first 'hit', and "I" get mentioned at 2:00
19. Commonly thorny tree : ACACIA
20. Whit : IOTA
21. Like people in pews : LAIC - not 'of the cloth'
22. Wheel shaft : AXLE
26. No View, No Touch Trap maker : D-CON rat traps
27. Sis's sib : BRO
28. Like an ant. : OPPosite - antonym
29. Org. that can help you get started : AAA quite some clechos today; 4D. Car starter? : ECO. Ecocar.
30. Fastens, as a ship's rope : BELAYS "Belay that belaying~!" I think of Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation
32. One-named New Ager : YANNI - lots of music today, but this one y'all can link for yourselves....
35. Some strings : VIOLAS
38. Common Latino newspaper name : EL SOL
45. Catch word? : HOWEVER - don't "get" it
48. Beans spiller : STOOLIE
49. Many NASA astronauts were in it : BSA - Boy Scouts of America - tricky; I was looking for something much more "rocket science" - then again, isn't that a badge? I was never in.
50. "__ seen the light!" : I'VE
51. 1997-2006 U.N. leader : ANNAN
54. Foot or fathom : UNIT - of measure, in this case length; a fathom is 6 feet
55. Team : SQUAD
61. "Understood" : I HEAR YA
63. Els with clubs : ERNIE
64. 1968 U.S. Open champ : ASHE -, Arthur - the Queens, NY US Open tennis stadium is named for him
65. Put into law : ENACT
66. Group with the 1979 #1 hit "Babe" : STYX - sorry, but "lame", no link
71. __ world : ARAB
75. Silly : INANE - crossword standard
77. Lincoln in-law : TODD
78. Refrain syllables : TRA LA
79. Yacht feature? : SILENT C - love this, had the 'silent' part, and wondered if it was the "A" or "H", too - technically, it's "YOT"
86. Degrade : ABASE
87. Zeus' jealous wife : HERA
89. Chicago Eight defendant : SEALE - Bobby, the Black Panther co-founder, was the eighth member, and had his trial severed from the other seven
90. Mess up : ERR
91. Club __ : MED - I remember the commercial, the "antidote to civilization"
92. "Li'l Abner" and "Doonesbury," e.g. : SATIRES
95. Inner-city genre : GANGSTA - as in gangsta rap
102. Exeter's county : DEVON - map
103. As much as one cares to see : EYEFUL - went to Hooters for the hockey game, got my EYE FULL...
104. They may be childproofed : HOMES - I never had a baby, but I have been in these types of homes, where everything has a secondary catch on it
108. Place saver : DOG-EAR - as a book page
110. Got the gold : WON
112. __ Grande : RIO
113. Word to a masseuse : AAH
114. The mi. in Mile-High City : ELEVation
122. Ax : FIRE - Canned, 86'ed
123. Floor piece : TILE
124. Yahtzee quintet : DICE
125. Hall of Fame subject of "The Last Boy" : MANTLE - baseball, I am sure a C.C. contribution, Mickey Mantle
126. Lob : TOSS
127. Stops hedging : OPTS
128. Ton : SCAD
DOWN:
1. Hack : CABBY - hesitated, wanted CABBIE at first
2. Legend creator : ACURA -this car
3. Silky synthetic : RAYON
5. German article : EIN and, 33A. Freudian "never" : NIE
6. Arctic explorer John : RAE
7. Men's wear accessory : TIE PIN
8. East Asian stew : HOT POT - Wiki
9. Ike's command: Abbr. : ETO - Another crossword standard, the European Theater of Operations
10. "Oh, brother!" : MAN
11. Communications opener : ALFA - as in the pilot's alphabet, BRAVO CHARLIE, etc.
12. Zhivago's love : LARA
13. It's not good to get caught in one : LIE
14. Cool color for contacts : ICE BLUE - gotten cliche as 'vampire'
15. Rotten apples, so to speak : BAD LOT
16. Legendary sword : EXCALIBUR - have to link this
17. Sate : CLOY - I thought this meant annoy, as in "I forget his name, and it cloys at me"
18. 50-year-old dolls : KENS - D'oh~!, I was thinking Barbie
24. Rules : GOVERNS
25. Routine grounder, say : EASY OUT - baseball again
31. F1 neighbor : ESC - keyboard, top row
34. Intrude upon, as one's space : INVADE
36. Part of 81-Down : LOS Angeles
37. Gallery fare : ART
38. Cutting, maybe : EDITING
40. One of a Latin trio : VENI - Veni, vidi, vici - I didn't know this, but "I came, I smoked, I quit" - the quitting part 4 years ago.
41. Silver and Glass : RONs
42. Yale Bowl rooter : ELI and 93D. Tarzan portrayer Ron : ELY
43. Anthem start : O SAY can you see...
44. Zippo : NADA - anyone else think lighter first?
45. Keeps secret : HIDES immediate clecho;
46. Hardly secret : OVERT
47. Squirt : WEENY
52. Confined, after "in" : A CAGE - this rocks
53. Inhaler? : NOSE - clecho, two "in" clues in a row
55. Dry, as wine : SEC
56. Doha native : QATARI - map #2
58. Playful sprites : PIXIES - had NAIADS at first
59. Hesitating sounds : UHS - had UMS first, made my Arthur "ASME" (64A)
60. "Peachy!" : NEAT-O
62. Owns : HAS
65. Assume, as a role : ENDUE
67. Bowler, for one : HAT
68. Let loose : UNCHAIN - gotta link it
69. Altar assurance : VOW immediate clecho;
70. Altar assurances : I DOs - and I had them reversed; I DO, then VOWS
72. Darts : RACES
73. It may be red : ALERT - Star Trek again
74. Iraqi seaport : BASRA
76. Manila-to-Seoul dir. : NNE
78. Dug-out area : TRENCH - ah, semi-baseball
79. __ Club: Costco rival : SAM'S
80. "Yeah, right!" : I BET
81. Six-time World Series-winning MLB franchise : L.A. DODGERS
82. Party wheel : BRIE - cheese wheel
83. It may be grand : LARCENY - as OPPosed to Petit
84. Manila tongue : TAGALOG - I have heard the word
85. Blueprint : PLAN
88. Airport stat. : ETD - Estimated Time of Departure
92. Affirmed in court : SWORE TO
94. "Get it?" : SEE?
96. Old Prizm maker : GEO - interesting history
98. "Speed" actor : REEVES
99. Uncle Tom rescues her from drowning : EVA - from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe - and an awesome song from Warrant
100. Aardvarks' land : AFRICA - Argyle had this Monday; linked one of my favorite all-time songs
101. Undone : RUINED
105. Dillon and Damon : MATTs
106. Hole in one, e.g. : EAGLE - the rarest of eagles, or "two under par" on a par three
107. Did a smithy's job : SHOED
108. Nimble : DEFT - I think the word sounds DEFT; crafty and skilled
109. Mixed bag : OLIO
110. Whip mark : WELT
111. Mined metals : ORES
116. Big shot : VIP
117. Favre's 508, briefly : TDs - Brett Favre, Quarterback, and his 1A touchdown passes
118. Fruit drink named for a vitamin : Hi-C
119. III x DCC : MMC - Roman math, 3 X (500+100+100) = 2100(1000+1000+100)
120. "Friendly skies" co. : UAL - United Airlines
121. __-Cat : SNO - image
Splynter
Notes from C.C. & Don:
This "Sale" idea first came to us last August. We had to change a few theme entries that are either too plain or did not resonate with Rich. We originally had different clues for the theme entries. Rich went a step forward and came up with the "Week 1, 2..." idea. Putting the final punch line CLOSED in the lower right corner created the greatest challenge to completing the fill smoothly. It took 8 months of back and forth with Rich before the puzzle was finally accepted.
39 comments:
Hi all,
Great puzzle, C. C. and Don! Groovy write-up, Splynter. Good choice of what links to exclude.
Finally had to resort to reds to clean out the junk that was holding me up, maybe 12 letters. Oh well! Had un-typed some correct answers, it seems.
Can get to bed early, as it is 2 AM here. Goody!
PS Australiphiles (Sp?) ought to try this sudoku. It comes with a picture at the end!
Good Morning, Splynter, CC, Don G and friends. Great puzzle! I had a lot of fun with this. I got CLOSED and EVERYTHING MUST GO first, so sort of worked my way backwards from there on the theme. It reminded me of all those cheesy furniture stores that always seem to be going out of business.
There were some wonderful clues in this puzzle. My favorite was Inhaler? = NOSE.
I wasn't fooled by Yacht Feature? = SILENT C. There is a time when I wouldn't have figured out that one.
Nice shout-out to Lemonade's son.
In honor of 125-Across, here is today's QOD: A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide. ~
Mickey Mantle
Morning, all!
Great to see another puzzle from two of my favorite constuctors.
Lovely puzzle with a great theme. I know Don too well at this point to be fooled by "Yacht feature," but I struggled with a bunch of other stuff. To wit:
* Not familiar with BECK, so 15A was tough right at the outset.
*WEENY didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. When I was a kid, we used WEENIE as a synonym for wimp ("don't be such a weenie"), but that's the closest I could get to this.
* ENDUE means to assume? Really? I thought it meant to give (see "endow"). Guess I never read beyond the first definition in the dictionary.
* ARAB seemed an awfully obscure/vague answer to ____ world, sorry.
* I didn't know that United Airlines was abbreviated as UAL. I wanted TWA here.
45A. Catch word? : HOWEVER
There is always a catch - The judge said, "You may be right, however..."
Morning All,
A quick look at the constructors and I had to give it a shot. Not a surprise, but I had a wicked good time with it. Great work CC and Don. Definitely worth the extra cup of coffee.
Not quite sure how I did it but I wrote in Buy One Get One first and worked the grid from the top down. It took a few passes and things were narrowing in. I groaned when fills finally gave me Silent C. I also blew the spelling of 98D which is a real bone head move seeing how I share the same last name.
Thanks for the write up Splynter.
Rainy and cool which will be the trend for most of the week. The boys and I are going to burn brush today.
Have a good one!
Splynter,
Thanks for the upbeat & informative write-up. I found you at "Loser". For a moment, I thought your Phillip Morris "Veni, vidi, vici" logo was real.
Barry G,
SILENT C is actually Rich's work, so are the clues for HOWEVER, DOG-EAR, TRENCH, VOW & I DOs. Just excellent. He also contributed to the clues you mentioned in your post: BECK, ENDUE & SQUIRT, all new to me in their current context.
Hi gang! When I saw the constructors and being Sunday, I wondered if C.C. would have to blog her own puzzle. Her "standby staff" did an excellent job of filling in, though. Thanks, C.C., Don and Splynter for jobs well done.
Really liked the Clechos. I would have gone a bit further and used 'car starter?' for both 4d and 29a. I liked the golf clue at 63a immediately followed by the US Open clue which didn't refer to golf.
Since this song has been stuck in my head since 12d, i might as well share it.
Good Morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
When I saw the constructors’ names, I eagerly dove in, ready for a romp. Well, I romped and tripped over this one (picture a puppy in a doggie park for the first time – all over the place!) I caught the theme early, thank goodness, because it sure helped fill a lot of blanks for me.
Lots of misdirection had me going back and forth (picture the puppy fetching the stick)…
I had TIE tac in stead of PIN at 7D…that stalled me for a while (had to sniff at that one for a long time before I decided to abandon it).
I “hesitated” at 59D, then confidently filled in “ers”….er, that was dumb of me.
65D ENDUE was a new meaning for me. Never heard it quite that way before.
69 and 70D Like Splynter, I had the two reversed at first.
82D Had “edam” instead of BRIE.
It took forever to see SATIRES (…comics? cartoons? Funnies?).
But I finished it all without any lookups (SEALE was tempting, but I had other sticks to catch…). So, I am a happy puppy! Have a great day, everyone.
Splynter, et al, to quote the bible today, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first” as the NW fell last! I went through every definition of Hack I could think of until the urban conveyors came to mind and the rest fell. Great Sunday workout with our fearless leader in the lineup!
Last year we accompanied our kids to K.C. and I took my grandson to his first major league game using a taxi (HACK). Not knowing where the hotel was wound up costing me $60 each way. I will NEVER spend $120 better than that!
Musings
-YANNI’s alter ego Brian EON was Paul Stynberg’s Crosswordese word of the day. You should subscribe if you don’t already!
-Someone told me high school orchestra instructors call VIOLAS scholarship instruments because so many pick violins and viola players are more in demand
-I had _ _ GEAR and got stuck on what gear this could be until DOG appeared.
-I know we have hockey peeps on this blog and a 28 year old player recently died and his position is being given as “Enforcer”. I didn’t know that function was actually acknowledged in the game.
Addendum – another sports oddity that can be filed under “What the hell did you expect?” The geniuses in charge of the Fox Yankees/Red Sox broadcast last night decided to have foul-mouthed Sarah Silverman on during the game and she proceeded to call residents of Massachusetts “Massholes” (which got bleeped) and to advocate using LSD like Doc Ellis of the Pirates admitted to doing (which Joe Buck quickly and vehemently disavowed).
On the link, hit the Play button to hear her promotion of dropping acid to enhance athletic performance.
If you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas!
Addendum – another sports oddity that can be filed under “What the hell did you expect?” The geniuses in charge of the Fox Yankees/Red Sox broadcast last night decided to have foul-mouthed Sarah Silverman on during the game and she proceeded to call residents of Massachusetts “Massholes” (which got bleeped) and to advocate using LSD like Doc Ellis of the Pirates admitted to doing (which Joe Buck quickly and vehemently disavowed).
On the link, hit the Play button to hear her promotion of dropping acid to enhance athletic performance.
If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas!
Hello Puzzlers - MAN, did I feel like a dummy today. Way too many unknowns, way too many poor assumptions and downright misunderstandings. Examples: never heard of ECOcar or ENDUE. Was thinking defender instead of defendant for Bobby SEALE. Failed to notice the missing "I" and filled in "WHAT meant was..." and thus kept that north pole frozen. Managed to pull through, but had to resort to red letters especially at ENDUE.
In short, I should not have attempted this in the pre-coffee period. Hat is off to the DGCC team for another solid project!
Bill G from last night - nope, never figured out that last mystery rhyme. Tried typical, nominal, usual for average, but no rhymes. I did recall a ninth grade English paper about churchgoing in which I had written "sinister minister", do I get bonus points? (Got an A on that paper)
Bill G, Median Tedium?
Husker - looks like you got Autocorrected there. Hearti just wrote me to say it was MEDIUM TEDIUM. I take no credit for that, I was off in left field.
It is so impressive to see the ever expanding creative output of C.C. Gagliardo; just a really entertaining, challenging and original puzzle. Splynter, great write up, will now listen to LOSER for your appearance. Lots of nice music links, but I am surprised you do not like STYX. I really liked the moving palindrom EIN NIE.
Good Morning C.C., Splynter and all,
What a treat to see the constructor partnership this a.m.. Loved the theme and CLOSED.I pretty much worked my way down , excepting my Achilles heel - the NE corner: BECK, BELAYS, and on down :ENDUE /SEALE. I never got the CLOY connection.
Splynter you did an excellent job; and I noticed that your Monty Python rubbed off on a few of our posters-British romps and wicked good times. That’s funny stuff.
Thanks to C.C., Don and Splynter. Super morning’s fun.
Have a nice day everyone.
Hello.
Sweet!
Nice shout out at the other place
for CC by Doug P.
HG. Every team has one or two who are ready to fight at the drop of a glove. The 28yo had a concussion. Crosby was lucky.
Tin sold the Bolts short. Can see them winning the Cup after what
they did to Boston last night.
Jill back from LA tonight.
Take care.
Hi Again~!
Ah, yes, the "however" catch....got it. As for the Phillip Morris logo, according to this Wiki , it is very real - I just translated it to what it means for me today.
Thanks for the comments, and I have to agree, yet again, with BarryG about the spelling of WEENY, and the use of ENDUE, and the vagueness of ARAB - but hey, it can't all be easy....
Derek BOOgard was the Ranger who died at 28 - and I think it is a long term result of fighting in the NHL and the concussion he suffered - and yes, he was the teams 'enforcer' - he had the the right name for it, too.
Bolts and Canucks, sorry EddyB.
Splynter
I enjoyed the puzzle as I expected to once I saw the names of the constructors. Clever theme. Like Barry, I wasn't a fan of ARAB for ___ world.
Related to the theme, do you ever see the ads on TV on an infomercial where they give you a second one FREE! All you have to do is pay a second exorbitant shipping and handling fee. What's handling anyway? Why don't I have to pay a handling fee at BK? They have to handle the food, the bag, my money, etc. Geez...
Dudley, good one with sinister minister. Yes to Husker Gary, medium tedium is the answer. Very excellent!
Hi All ~~
I had a feeling C.C. wouldn't be blogging this one. I really enjoyed the puzzle, Don and C.C.! Splynter, thanks for the great write-up and links. I really liked the SNOCAT. >^:^<
I got through most of this with very little trouble. The NE corner and a few other spotty areas did slow me down a bit. I had to give in to one look-up ... BECK. CLOY was my last entry and I wasn't too sure of it.
~ TEENY before WEENY
~ LALAS before TRALA
~ I enjoyed all the baseball references.
~ I got caught on YACHT ... I tend to miss those clever clues.
Lots to like in this one ... looking forward to more from this duo!
Gray and rainy here ... I hope the Red Sox and Yankees get to play.
Enjoy the day!
Macabre Nabob?
Bowser rouser?
Preacher creature?
Shiny hinny?
Ballistic mystic?
Great puzzle for my lazy Sunday. I had "Everything must go" and "closed" early on so, like Hahtool I worked my way up the grid. I got some of the harder clues before the easier ones. I actually had "silentc" filled in and didn't get it til I googled the puzzle and saw the "c" in red. I grew up in a boating family and never heard the term "belay" until my son started rock climbing.
Hello, C.C. and Don G.
Just popped in to say how much I enjoyed this puzzle and congratulations on another winner!
My internet connection is down at home and I'm at my daughter's home on the way to a family function.
I hope to read blog and comments later.
You all have a wonderful Sunday!
Hi C.C.,
I'm doing a Charles Preston puzzle in the 5/15/11 Sunday Chicago Tribune. It's called "Statements". It is the weirdest puzzle I've ever seen. Are you familiar with it? I'm slogging through it with the help of the internet but the theme answers are quite odd. They all have something to do with states of our union. Ex. clue is "lay waste" with 15 spaces across. From what I can figure out
with all the down answers filled in, it is DEVARHODEISLAND. Huh????
Pat
Maybe it is devaSTATE with rhodeisland replacing STATE. Get it?
Splynter. We shall see. And I'll
raise you five. Have to get rid of this beard some time.
Are you familiar with Ellen Page from Juno? I'm a big fan of this Canadian actress. She was in a more recent movie called Whip It, about a girl who wants to get involved with roller derby of all things. I found it on cable and am about halfway through it. Very quirky and enjoyable.
Hello everybody. Wow, this was a hard puzzle. But something about it kept me going, made me want to solve it all. And so I finally did! It took me about 3 hours, but, as Jerome said yesterday, it really exercised my brain and logical powers. Plenty to chew on. Ultimately satisfying. Thank you, Don G. and C.C.
Best wishes to you all.
Good evening everyone.
Great to see C.C. and Hard G. as constructors, even though it was way too hard for me. But clever. I agree in the dislike for ARAB before world.
I miss things like the period after ant. So I was thinking insect. Thanks for the easy ones like THEM, ALL I, VIOLAS. And I like Roman numeral problems because I can do them.
So, congratulations, C.C..
Cheers
P.S. And thanks for the write up, Splynter.
Thanks for all your comments!
I just have to laud C.C. for her hard work on this one. When a constructor must rely on theme material such as this, it is quite limiting. C.C. literally took to the streets and peered into store fronts all over the St. Paul-Minneapolis area. Maybe I'm exaggerating. It helped that Rich came up with the scheme, thus making it necessary to have only three matching pairs in length, and an odd in the center. We almost didn't make it on this one.
I want to plug our puzzle in The Crosswords Club June issue. C.C. and Rich came up with the idea for the puzzle together. The amazing thing was the incredibly intricate construction that C.C. executed to pull it off. She has come such a long way!
Bill G - I have only seen Ellen Page in Juno, but I think she's got talent. Looking forward to more!
Thank you Seen and C.C. I finally figured it and you are right Seen. I've never hated a puzzle more.
Congratulations CC on another puzzle: very well done!
Looking forward to more!
-Moon
Greetings people,
Thank you, C.C., Don (hard)G, and Splynter for an entertaining solving. Congrats, C.C., also. You've really got it, I must say.
Don, is it only the beginning G in Gagliano, or do you include the third letter, too? I would pronounce your name like the liqueur, Galliano. Am I right or wrong? However. . . . .
I have pretty much decided to skip the Sunday puzzles, but when I saw who were the constructors, I couldn't leave it along. And I am very glad. It was a delight.
Good Grief! I'm almost up to 20!
Oh, Husker, I'm glad you changed your 'lay' to 'lie'. That one really bugs me!
Good evening all. Splynter, good commentary. C.C. and Don: nice Sunday puzzle. I just got to it now since we've been gone all day.
Fun theme words which were somewhat predictable but still gave pause to suss out. Nice balance with the perp difficulty. Unknowns like STYX and YANNI were delivered by the perps. No searches were needed. I liked the mirroring of EIN and NIE. Crafting a puzzle with this degree of solving balance is quite an accomplishment IMHO.
Good Evening, folks! Thank you Don G. and C.C. for a GREAT puzzle. It was most enjoyable, and doable. Thank you Splynter for the excellent write-up.
I started this early, then finished as I was selling onions today. It went easier than many Sunday puzzles.
I bounced around a bit then caught 115A EVERYTHINGMUSTGO. That helped me focus on the remaining theme answers. Most of those came together quickly.
I had BETS for 127A Stops hedging. Cured that with OPTS. Had ERS instead of UHS for a while. Quite a few picked up with perps.
19A ACACIA is especially sentimental to me. Thank you.
SILENT C was clever.
Li'l Abner was my favorite cartoon until Al Capp died. The satire was daily and certainly was true. I can still remember Senator Foggbound, Big Barnsmell, Eddie Rickityback, and of course, Daisy Mae.
Jeanne, I tried your recipe with Vidalia onions tonight. Turned out real well. I even found a baguette (with my wife's help).
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Woo Hoo C.C.!! I was so excited when I arrived home tonight to see that the puzzle I did in The Maui News on the plane today was "our" puzzle.It had no title, but said it was edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis, so I wasn't sure.Kudos to you again! You rock!
I had to check my answers before turning in, so thanks for the great write up Splynter.Putting in Cardinals for LA Dodgers really messed up that corner.
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