Theme: Broadway Showstoppers - The last word in each theme entry is a well-known one-word Broadway show.
23A. Airport pickup spot : BAGGAGE CAROUSEL. The conveyor belt in baggage claim area. "Carousel".
39A. Norman landmark : UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA. "Oklahoma!". Hi, Lois!
56A. Troublemaker's credo? : NO REST FOR THE WICKED. "Wicked". My favorite entry.
82A. One might prompt a curtain call : BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE. "Applause". Unknown to me.
99A. Fleeting celebrity : FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME. "Fame".
120A. Relax : LET DOWN ONE'S HAIR. "Hair".
C.C. here. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers who read this blog.
When I first read the puzzle title, I was worried that each theme entry might be a truncated Broadway show, you know, the names just stop suddenly, like our absurd Thursday puzzle. Was hugely relieved when I nailed the third entry and grokked the gimmick.
We often see 7-9 theme entries on Sunday. This grid only has 6, mainly because all the answers are very long. Hard to negotiate the maze and build a clean grid.
Across:
1. Cotton-picking handful : BOLL
5. Like pro football players : MALE
9. Libreville is its capital : GABON. I know capitals of all Asian countries. Not African.
14. Seasonal crew? : ELVES. For Darling Santa.
19. Moises of baseball : ALOU
20. One often thickens on stage : PLOT. Nice clue.
21. Word with soap : OPERA. Soap opera.
22. Corporate reward : RAISE. Salary.
26. Ballet __ : RUSSE. So the plural is Ballets Russes?
27. "__ and his money ..." : A FOOL
28. Toledo toast : SALUD. French is SALUT.
29. Certain Honshu resident : OSAKAN
31. __ Sauer: handgun : SIG. Not familiar to me.
33. Library ID : ISBN
35. Urges : ITCHES
46. Prop- suffix : ANE
47. Captain Hook's last words are its motto : ETON. What's their motto?
48. Gives an earful : YELLS AT
49. Frat characters? : PSIs. This clue often stumps me.
50. Some HDTVs : RCAs
52. Sunscreen additive : ALOE
54. Alas., once : TERR (Territory). Alas! I did not notice the . at first.
55. Iona College athletes : GAELS
61. British miler Steve : OVETT. Total stranger.
62. One in a pool : STENO. Office pool.
63. Trendy tea : CHAI. Spiced tea.
64. Some NFL linemen : RTs
67. Class unit : LESSON
69. Assistants and such : STAFF
72. Like a wake : ASTERN. Wave wake.
74. 2000 Gere title role : DR T
75. It may be fenced : LOOT. Not yard fence.
78. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA
81. Relative of -ish : ESQUE. As in Rubenesque vs. zaftig.
86. Dressing target : SALAD
89. "Let __!" : IT GO
90. Inventor Sikorsky : IGOR
91. Cheese holder : RITZ
92. Nutmeg covering : ARIL. Classic crosswordese.
93. Like most sandals : TOELESS
96. Fictional futuristic race : ELOI. "The Time Machine" race.
98. Big foot letters : EEE
103. Some kitchens : EAT-INS
104. Gossip : DIRT
105. Moral slip : SIN. Forgive me, Father, for I slipped.
106. Cellist awarded a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1989 : CASALS (Pablo)
110. Second-deepest U.S. lake : TAHOE
113. Convertible alternatives : T-TOPS
117. Burst of activity : SPASM
123. Come to terms : AGREE
124. Many a chat room visitor : AOLer
125. __ Center: N.J. arena : IZOD. Learned from doing Xword.
126. Italian hot spot : ETNA
127. Like some bulls : PAPAL. Papal bull. Got me.
128. Hoity-toity types : SNOBS
129. British tax : CESS
130. Voicemail accumulation: Abbr. : MSGs
Down:
1. Radner's Wawa : BABA
2. Minnesota's St. __ College : OLAF. Gimme, gimme!
3. Company symbol : LOGO
4. 1931 count portrayer : LUGOSI (Bela). Count Dracula.
5. SUV stat : MPG
6. Some draft picks : ALEs. Can't fool me again.
7. Like "la vida" in a Ricky Martin hit : LOCA. Crazy!
8. And others, to Cicero : ET ALII
9. Splitting word? : GOODBYE. Nice clue too.
10. Springfield storekeeper : APU. "The Simpsons".
11. Carlos's kiss : BESO. Remember your first kiss? How old were you?
12. Mined finds : ORES
13. "The Lion King" lioness : NALA
14. Slips : ERRATA
15. Takeoff place : LAUNCH PAD. See, only on Sundays can you have 9-letter non-theme fill.
16. Before and after "à," compared with : VIS. Vis-à-vis.
17. Safe opener? : ESS. The opening letter in Safe.
18. Have a look : SEE
24. Better way to be wanted? : ALIVE. Dead or alive. I drew a blank.
25. Needing practice : RUSTY
30. Clan attire : KILT
32. Gain access to : GET AT
34. "Peaceful Warrior" actor : NOLTE (Nick)
36. Flimflam : HOSE
37. Silents star Jannings : EMIL. First Oscar Best Actor.
38. Sign of freshness : SASS
39. Find out : UNCOVER
40. Most handy : NEAREST
41. Massages deeply : ROLFs. Stumped me last time. Again today, Melissa!
42. Hoity-toity type : SNOOT
43. Took off : FLEW
44. "Hamlet" courtier : OSRIC
45. Olympic volleyball medalist __ Kiraly : KARCH. No idea. Great shot.
46. Big name in traitors : ARNOLD (Benedict). Schwarzenegger too I suppose.
51. Match parts : SETS
53. Part of a Spanish 101 conjugation : ERES. You are.
55. Seuss, actually : GEISEL
57. Not easily excited : STOLID
58. "The Closer" channel : TNT
59. Stock and then some : HOARD
60. "The Jungle Book" python : KAA. Complete unknown to me.
64. Passing notes? : REQUIEM. Xchefwalt would have loved this clue.
65. Chairman of the board, for one : TRUSTEE
66. Blessed event? : SNEEZE
68. Fireside quaff : NOG
70. __ Schwarz: 5th Avenue toy store : FAO
71. '30s-'40s actress D'Orsay : FIFI. Man, that's old. Nope. Nope!
73. Former despot : TSAR
76. Hunter of the stars : ORION
77. Carved pole : TOTEM
79. Prudent advisers : SAGES
80. Skating gold medalist __ Anton Ohno : APOLO
82. Latvia-Sweden separator : BALTIC SEA. Another highlight of the grid.
83. Grapefruit relative : UGLI. I tried one last year. Quite sweet.
84. Eternally : NO END
85. Faculty mems. : PROFs
86. Heist target : SAFE. Dupe with earlier ESS clue.
87. La Scala highlight : ARIA
88. Garage apparatus : LIFT
93. Angel Clare's love, in an 1891 novel : TESS
94. Lochinvars : SUITORS
95. Turkey's place, in song : STRAW. What song?
97. "__ Lovin' That You Want": Rihanna hit : IF IT'S. Not a Rihanna fan.
100. Crown cover : ENAMEL
101. Like some restaurants : ETHNIC
102. Game opener : ANTHEM
107. It might precede bad news : ALAS
108. 2009-'11 CIA director Panetta : LEON. Next Secretary of Defense.
109. City of NW France : ST LO
111. Slow flow : OOZE
112. "The Dukes of Hazzard" deputy : ENOS. Slaughtered me. No idea.
114. Porridge base : OATS
115D. Ball game opener? : PING. Ping pang. (Correction: Ping Pong.)
116. Ladies of Sp. : SRAs
117. It's tapped for syrup : SAP
118. FedEx Cup org. : PGA. 8-shot lead for McIlory. The kid is good.
119. Ernst collaborator : ARP (Jean)
121. Belle of the ball : DEB. Lovely "ball" clechos.
122. People people, briefly : EDs (Editors). "People" magazine.
C.C.
Greetings all,
ReplyDeletePuzzle rather more difficult than last week. Got hung up on some names. Great write-up, CC. interesting puzzle, Pamela.
Thanks for the good wishes, people; especially Lucina.
Was relegated to oatmeal and blueberries for dinner. Kind of depressing.
(You meant PING PONG, CC.) I too ignored the darn period!
Don't get ETON. Any help here?
I also had not heard of APPLAUSE. What does norman have to do with OKLAHOMA?
Going to try to go to sleep. (It is 3:11 here.)
Am watching Threshhold on the installment plan. Will have to finish tomorrow. Excellent movie.
Happy Sunday.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteI was actually a bit disappointed with the simplicity of the theme. Given the title, I thought there would be phrases that involved stopping or preventing Broadway shows. LET DOWN ONES HAIR came close, but then I realized it was just the name of Broadway shows at the end of the answers. I'm not familiar with APPLAUSE, but the rest were known to me.
The rest of the puzzle was mostly easy with some bizarrely difficult spots thrown in for spice. I almost died where OSRIC, NOLTE and KARCH intersected TERR. I know who Nick NOLTE is, of course, but didn't know the movie. And OSRIC and KARCH were complete unknowns. I was trying to figure out an archaic form of "alas" until I finally noticed that it was an abbreviation, and that let me guess TERR.
Other unknowns included CESS, OVETT, FIFI and "lochnivars." If I've seen them before, they didn't stick with me.
Oh -- and my favorite clue today was definitely "passing notes" for REQUIEM. I was thinking OBITUARY, but the music answer fits the clue much better.
Fermatprime: ETON refers to the college in England, whose motto is "Floreat Etona" ("may Eton flourish"). Apparently, those were Captain Hook's last words in the novel "Peter Pan."
"Norman" is a college town here in OK.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, C.C. and friends. I had a lot of fun with this Musical-themed puzzle. The only one I had never hear of was Applause. Apparently it premiered in 1970.
ReplyDeleteThere were some fun clues in this puzzle, but I especially liked Blessed Event = SNEEZE.
Dressing Target = SALAD was also a nice clue.
I learned that a Corporate reward is not a Bonus, but is a RAISE.
Here is an early recorded version of Turkey in the Straw. My grandfather used to sing this song.
Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and Granddads out there.
In honor of the day, here is today's QOD: My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~ Clarence B. Kelland
Good Morning C.C. ET ALII.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your great write-up, C.C. My sentiments exactly on most of your "musings".
I picked and poked until I finally "saw" BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE appear. Since I had never heard of that musical, either, it didn't help to figure out the theme. When I filled in FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME and LET DOWN ONES HAIR, I finally had the V8 moment.
From there I could work my way back up to the top and finished with a couple lookups: OSRIC and KARCH - what's up with those to next to each other??
Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!
Hi There ~!
ReplyDeleteI wondered, too, if we were looking at cut-off phrases again - and my first fill was "Fifteen Minutes of STAR-" which I thought was a cut-off for STARDOM, and I was going to be "meh" if it was - then "FAME" dawned on me; I, too, have never heard of "Applause".
I liked your Arnold comment, and I see that subtle baseball hint at ENOS, C.C. ~! - I grew up with Enos of the "Dukes", that 'dipstick'....
I got it, but did it make it easier to have the four-letter 'Alas.' instead of the standard AK for TERR?
Not thrilled by the zag of TESS/CASALS/LEON...
I liked LOOT for fence, ELVES for the 'help', and SNEEZE for blessed.
Happy to the Fathers here, time for me to start moving out of my little home....
Splynter
Good morning all. Thank's C.C. for your explanations. That ^&%*$ ESS got me again. I wanted TNT! Perps finally straightened it out, though.
ReplyDeleteBarry, my problems were in the same area, but not quite the same as yours. I had everything finished except OSRI_, KARC_, K_A and the cross of _ _ _I. OSRIn gut stuck in my head (and in the grid) and just wouldn't let me see the others. I finally blocked that out and played with all sorts of combinations until CHAI finally got my attention.
Do Tai Chi advocates drink Chai Tea?
I've heard of "Applause", but it didn't help me figure out the theme. Like most of you, I wasn't looking for one word show titles. I wanted something more complex.
The ambiguity of 64a (CTs,LTs or RTs) kept me from seeing the Q in REQUIEM until perps got all other letters, both across and down. That was a great clue.
Good Morning C.C.,
ReplyDeleteC.C. your write-up was just the ticket for me. We had a lot of the same thoughts and your memory is better than mine. Was that a subliminal thought on ENOS comment? Your being a baseball gal and all.
Thanks.
Pamela, I’m starting to get vibes when I see your name. Good, I might add; and you didn’t let me down.
Nice theme and great entries. Love a Gilda mention every once in a while.
Had a ‘T’ at the OSRIC/CHAI crossing. V-8 can for RITZ. Ughs!
Also, GABON/ NALA crossing was a wag . That one I checked before coming to corner.
How could my favorite not be Passing notes? REQUIEM?! Fav for the week award for me.
Now on to the posts, then dress for Fathers’ Day celebration in Louisville.
Hope you all have a nice day.
Great Father’s Day last night for Papa and Grandkids (24, 8 and 6) and families. Baseball and family!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-A bad date is when you see that no amount of effort is going to be worth it. A good date is when some real effort can pay off. This was a GOOD date – not easy but worthwhile!
-We are a big Broadway Musical family and so this doubled the fun.
-After being so elated and dejected after playing the guys from THAT Norman, I felt silly when I realized the clue had nothing to do with Jolly Old England. Duh!
-Many fools and their money were parted in the recent housing debacle.
-Wake was not somber or solemn
-No one offers Russian Dressing to target my salad anymore
-LAUNCHPADS at KSC are going down
-Sheets for Clan? No! Good!
-C.C. loved the Slaughtered reference!
-Off to Omaha to see Super 8 and spend my Papa’s Day gift cards at Scheels.
Good morning everyone. And happy father's day.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was fun, especially the Broadway shows, but DNF.
The Naples News had a heartwarming father's day story today, that you will enjoy if you read it. It even as a bit about the L.A. Times xword puzzle.
Father and Son Reunited
I'm not sure if this will be a proper site, but if not you can copy and paste. We'll see.
Cheers
Hooray! It worked. You don't have to cut and paste. Just click.
ReplyDeleteGood day, C.C. et ALII!
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to "see" you, C.C. and I loved your Slaughter comment which even I (a non sports fan) got.
I love musicals and am familiar with all even APPLAUSE and went to see HAIR when it came to Pheonix in 1970.
Ditto for failing to see the . on Alas but grokked NOLTE; no problems with OSRIC and KARCH was a WAG.
Fave clue was passing notes? REQUIEM though I had to come here to finish it and would someone please explain RITZ, cheese holder.
Big foot letters, EEE was clever, too.
Thanks, Pamela, you always amuse me.
Happy Fathers Day all you dads, granddads, stepdads and all who foster children. My own S-I-L is an exceptional stepdad and dad.
Happy Sunday, everyone!
My first kiss was at age 13, very tender and nice but then I entered the Convent.
ReplyDeleteHello Puzzlers - Reeeally struggled in that same OSRIC NOLTE KARCH area.
ReplyDeleteLots of things I flat out don't understand. What, for instance, ties Gilda Radner, wawa, and BABA together? What's a CESS? If you accumulate British taxes in one lot, is that a cesspool? :-)
The clue for TOELESS didn't line up for me, so I resisted that answer for a while. Saw the abbrev. for Alas., but spent too much time trying to remember the name of the place back when the Russians had it (never did...).
I always figured Turkey in the Straw was pretty much the same folk tune as Old Zip Coon. There's a lot of similarity in the Chicken Reel, but that one has enough differences to be its own tune.
Lucina - I took Ritz to mean the cracker, a rather tasty platform for cheese.
ReplyDeleteFirst kiss? It was in a leaf pile at a Halloween party, age 10 or so. The lovely little brown-haired Morey was my girlfriend for a year or two afterwards, big doings in those days! Morey lives in MN now.
I now own the yard where that party was, and thus the tree that provided the leaves. That old tree is pretty feeble now, and needs to come down, but I admit to a certain sentimental barrier...
Dudley: Gilda Radner did a wonderful immatation of Barbara Walters (Baba Wawa) on Saturday Night Live.
ReplyDeleteC.C. It's good to have your write ups. Love your comments.
ReplyDeleteBut, (there's always a but...) it's Ping Pong.
And I don't understand HOSE for flimflam.
Thanks Hahtool! I guess I missed that episode.
ReplyDeleteI sure miss Gilda. There was something captivating about her. From all reports she was a lovely person.
Ah, thanks to YouTube, I have now seen Baba Wawa. Funny material!
ReplyDeleteStill miss Gilda.
Good Morning All, I guess the title of the puzzle "Broadway Showstoppers" refers to the fact that the theme entries stop with the name of the show.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping that the show title was also a literally show stopping number within the show.
The song "Oklahoma" stopped the show, but then it was the show finale. "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel was also a biggie finale.
APPLAUSE was a Tony Award winner based on the movie "All About Eve". GAH and I saw it in Los Angeles. It was a very good show, but didn't have any showstopping numbers either.
Then too, at least according to Wikipedia, FAME never even made it to Broadway.
Authentic showstoppers are few and far between. Looking back, one of the few I can think of is The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha. We saw it in Los Angeles with Richard Kiley and it was a standing ovation that kept the show from continuing for about five minutes. Can anyone else think of another?
I tried kissing a couple of times with our next door neighbor, when I was about nine. It had been his idea and I wasn't all that keen on it. I didn't start kissing in earnest until I was about 12, Our "gang" had potato roasts in the summer in the field behind our houses. We played kissing games we knew, and then we made some up. By that time, I was really starting to like it!
ReplyDeleteSir Walter Scott wrote a 6000 line epic poem "Marmion" that included a section about the 94D)SUITOR, "Lochivar". I won't include a link for the whole poem (that would be mean!), but the Lochinvar verses, written in rhyming couplets, are only 48 lines. Lochinvar is about romantic bride-theft and it makes him seem very heroic.
Happy Father's Day to all. GAH is enjoying his day with the U.S. Open.
Who's xchefwalt?
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon C.C. and all.
ReplyDeleteNot too difficult for the longer Sunday puzzle. Got the theme phrases with perp help, but they were all easily recognizable. Had to come here for the 'Broadway' connection. There were many clever clues; especially liked those for REQUIEM, SNEEZE, and RITZ. RTS and KARCH were WAGS. TAHOE is a graben lake
Enjoy the day.
Hola Everyone,
ReplyDeleteLemon, Dodo, and Fermatprime,
I didn't do the puzzle today, but I wanted to comment on John Lescroart's books.
I love his character Dismas Hardy, and of course, the setting, in San Francisco. I purachased Lescroart's first book from a fellow Faculty member who is John's Sister-in-law. She had autographed copies for all of us who wanted to buy. I have to say that his writing has improved with each susequent book. His first book was good, but the writing stilted, I thought. He has now hit his stride and does a great job.
I, too, buy the books at our thrift shop whenever they become available.
I do enjoy a great mystery.
That was a fun Sunday puzzle. It took me a while though. Karch Kiraly is a BIG name in beach volleyball here in Southern California. It's hard to believe ALAS. is a legitimate abbreviation for Alaska. It just doesn't look right to me.
ReplyDeleteI watched Sunday Morning. They had a fun segment on the Typo Police, a couple of guys who go around finding typos and misspellings on signs and advertisements, point them out and correct them.
Again, on Sunday morning, two different people (including Julia Roberts) said something like, "Everyone should do their duty..." It doesn't seem so illogical but it sure goes against everything I was taught growing up.
Do you want something guaranteed to make you smile and laugh today? This will do it.
LOL, just to clear it up...the next door neighbor was a 10 year old. Nothing creepy going on...just curiosity.
ReplyDeletexchefwalt was a regular contributor to this blog in 2008 (maybe longer). He was/is very involved with his sons hockey teams and he gave us lots of handy chef-type hints. I hope he is having a good Father's Day.
Chickie, we'll have to do some serious talking about good books...very soon. :o)
Our daughter and grandson took us out for a Father's Day lunch at the local greasy spoon Mexican restaurant. No waiting and the food never changes. I had chile rellenos as usual.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle seems to have been edited by Rich Norris and someone else. What's up with that?
That's not at all unusual.
ReplyDeleteDudley:
ReplyDeleteThank you! That V-8 can is getting a lot of use by me.
Happy Father's day guys, my son just left to head back to Orlando, my nephew leaves tomorrow and my oldest called from Italy. Pretty fine day. The puzzle was just right, love broadway shows, Hair is playing at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and I sent my nephew and my youngest Friday night.
ReplyDeleteEvery Sunday has Joyce as a co-editor.
xchefwalt is one of our originals one we miss
did you all see Super 8 yet?
Lescroart tends to rehash his plots in various forms, and does not know much about courtrooms. but he writes wntertaining tales.
good day all
Hello everybody. Took me 5 hours to finish the puzzle today, but I was distracted for 4 hours of that. haha
ReplyDeleteAm enjoying reading all your comments, musings, and observations. And many of my questions are the same as yours, so I can't answer them.
My first kiss was with my "girlfriend" at the age of 9. Of course, at that age, nobody really has a boyfriend or girlfrined, just crushes. I'm glad she wanted to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss her. Yes, she was also 9, LOL.
Very best of good wishes to you all.
Incredible finish to the US Open golf championship today. I bet Rory McIlroy's dad had the best father's day ever!!
ReplyDeleteHi C.C., Argyle and folk,
ReplyDeleteGood, solid write up, C.C. Same sentiment for your puzzle construction, Pamela.
I had a BALL solving this puzzle! Fun theme...fifteen minutes of fame, a phrase coined by Andy Warhol.
Beautiful photo Husker Gary! Sounds like it has been a wonderful father's day for all you crossword corner dads! I'm so happy to hear it. My daughter Annie and her boyfriend made a fantastic BBQ/pool party for Peter. We even jumped off the new diving board! Then, boo! hoo! Peter had to go back to San Diego for work in the morning :(
I'm out!
Hi.
ReplyDeleteHeartRx. Oh, I don't know. Dario's dad flew in from Oz to see his son win the Milwaukee 225. Dario wiped out the 21 point lead that Power
had held.
Take care all.
Good Evening, folks. Thank you Pamela K. for the Sunday offering. Thank you C.C. for a great write-up.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was OK. A Little tough.
I never caught the theme. My puzzle, from the Chicago Tribune Site, did not have the theme clue listed. I should have checked the paper.
TAHOE was interesting. I Used to work there. Never knew that it was the second deepest lake. I entered HURON first, then fixed it.
LAUNCH PAD had me for a while. I was trying for an airport type answer.
Thought REQUIEM was an excellent answer. Very clever.
CHAI , by the way, is the name for tea in Iran.
HOSE was a stumper for a while. To do a HOSE job on someone is to Flimflam him or her.
Loved TURKEY IN THE STRAW. Thank you Hahtool for the link. I remember that song from years back.
See you tomorrow. I am ready for a Monday puzzle. These past few days have been toughies.
Abejo
In deference to my son-in-law I watched the golf game with him and the family; I must say it was interesting to see how much power is required to hurl that ball such a long distance and how the players pensively study the length and the layout. I learned a bit about golf today.
ReplyDeleteIronically, Fathers Day is not celebrated in Ireland but I'm sure the McElroy's did so today!
So Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the US. Do you know what lake is the deepest?
ReplyDeleteIt's Crater Lake in Oregon at 1,949 feet. When we saw it, it was beautiful with some fresh snow all around it. It's supposed to be the clearest too.