Theme: Windmills(2:18) - As the unifier states, there is a synonym for CIRCLE hidden within the themes. If your puzzle has the circles(and they're in the right spots, see here), it makes it a little easier.
17A. St. Patrick's day shout : "ERIN GO BRAGH!"
32A. Business that serves smokers : TOBACCO INDUSTRY
39A. With "leave," settle for the existing situation : WELL ENOUGH ALONE
60A. Privileged group, and an aptly highlighted feature of 17-, 32- and 39-Across : INNER CIRCLE
Argyle here. I'm tempted to comment on the wording of 32-Across but I'll take the advice of 39-Across. Hard G has given us an ambitious Tuesday. There are two spanners and the theme makes a nice diagonal stripe down the face of the grid.
Across:
1. "I'm clueless!" : "GOT ME!". A bad situation for a constructor.
6. Half of Ethiopia's capital : ABABA. Addis Ababa Image.
11. Finger-to-lips syllable : "SHH!"
14. 1994 peace prize sharer Yitzhak : RABIN. Actually, there were three: Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin.
15. C.S. who created Narnia : LEWIS and 52D. Narnia lion : ASLAN. From the fantasy novel, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
16. Chinese word of enlightenment : TAO
19. IV administrators : RNs. But don't call them bag ladies!
20. 0, in Spain : CERO. Spanish for "Zero".
21. Linus awaits the Great Pumpkin in one : PATCH
22. Singer's aid : MIKE. We see MIC quite often these days.
23. Unconventional merchandise quantity : ODD LOT
25. "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" singer Neil : SEDAKA. Skip the clip(2:14) if you want, I'll understand.
27. Lewinsky confidante Linda : TRIPP. No image available.
30. Delinquency word more commonly heard in the plural : ARREAR
36. Fifth in NYC, e.g. : AVE.
37. Contraire à la __: illegal, in Lyons : LOI. French
38. Finished first : WON
46. "M*A*S*H" system : TRIAGE. The process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition.
47. Drum major's cap : SHAKO. Take one home today.
48. Heat rub product : BENGAY
50. Oysters-on-the-half-shell seller : RAW BAR
54. Menlo Park middle name : ALVA. TAE - Thomas Alva Edison. Haven't heard from Nikola Tesla lately.
55. Somewhat warm : TEPID
58. Wave radio maker : BOSE
59. Work the soil : HOE
62. Bachelor in personals, briefly : SWM. Single white male.
63. Short explosive? : NITRO
64. It's not an express : LOCAL
65. Half and half : ONE. It adds up.
66. Yarn unit : SKEIN. How many yards of yarn? "a hank of yarn," from O.Fr.
67. Buck of country music : OWENS. Skip the clip(2:16) if you want, I'll understand.
Down:
1. Artist El __ : GRECO. He was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" (The Greek) was a nickname, a reference to his Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters.
2. Rowed : OARED. Or sculled.
3. Classic Ford : T-BIRD
4. Company that merged with Konica : MINOLTA. Not just cameras anymore.
5. Stonehenge loc. : ENGland
6. Actress Jessica : ALBA. Nice hair.
7. Lion player Lahr : BERT. Nice hair.
8. Sky surveillance acronym : AWACS. Airborne Warning and Control System
9. Swollen ego : BIG HEAD
10. Smudge on Santa? : ASH
11. Ump's call : "STRIKE TWO!"
12. "Hammerin'" baseballer : HANK AARON. Two baseball clues.
13. Watering aid : HOSE
18. Fiber-__ : OPTIC
22. Fourth planet : MARS. Um-m-m. We've had a Fifth Avenue and now a Mars Bar.
24. Dungeons & Dragons monster : ORC
26. R&B's __ Hill : DRU. All four original members of were natives of Baltimore, Maryland. Formation.
28. Casual shirt : POLO
29. Reverent : PIOUS
31. Sandberg with nine Gold Gloves : RYNE. More baseball.
32. "I __ I taw a puddy ..." : TAWT
33. Excessive : OVERBLOWN
34. "This is no lie" : "BELIEVE ME"
35. Expected soon : NIGH
40. Turner on screen : LANA. She was a Sweater Girl.
41. Poached fare : EGG
42. Slob's opposite : NEATNIK
43. Either of the first two consonants in "coccyx" : HARD C. Don's signature clue/answer.
44. Wanted poster abbr. : AKA. Also Known As.
45. Unintellectual : LOWBROW
49. Broadway matchmaker : YENTE
51. Italian ball game : BOCCE
53. Fishing gear : REELS
54. Facetious "I see" : "AH SO"
56. Prefix with scope : PERI
57. Crease remover : IRON
60. Access points : INS. So egress points are 'outs', right?
61. UN workers' gp. : ILO. International Labour Organization.
Argyle
Constructor note:
The phrase “inner circle” was the inspiration for this puzzle. I just had one of those moments where I saw the phrase, and naturally thought that it could be the subject of a puzzle. I knew that I wanted a hidden word to reflect a circle. I decided to go with four-letter words, for some reason. My search yielded three candidates. It was not as easy as I thought to find words that can mean circle that are four letters long. But it did give me a break. I am always trying to make puzzles with five or six theme answers.
Constructor note:
The phrase “inner circle” was the inspiration for this puzzle. I just had one of those moments where I saw the phrase, and naturally thought that it could be the subject of a puzzle. I knew that I wanted a hidden word to reflect a circle. I decided to go with four-letter words, for some reason. My search yielded three candidates. It was not as easy as I thought to find words that can mean circle that are four letters long. But it did give me a break. I am always trying to make puzzles with five or six theme answers.
53 comments:
Morning, all!
Definitely a challenge today, especially for a Tuesday. CERO, LOI, RYNE, SHAKO and AWACS all made me pause and think. Not that pausing and thinking is a bad thing, mind you... Surprisingly, the clue for 43D was very straightforward for a change (typically, Don likes to clue that phrase without mentioning that he's looking for a description of a consonant).
The theme was fun to discover once the puzzle was done, but impossible to figure out while solving.
Hope everybody enjoyed my baby pics yesterday!
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. I thought this was a harder puzzle than most Tuesdays. I got the INNER CIRCLE quickly, and had the RING filled in, which helped with the COIN and HALO.
I just finished reading Cutting for Stone and Addis ABABA looms largely in that book (which I highly recommend), so getting the capital of Ethiopia was easy.
My favorite clue was Smudge on Santa = ASH. An appropriate clue for today's commentator.
The obligatory French lesson of today's puzzle (Contraire à la LOI) came easily to me, as I studied French constitutional law when I lived in southern France.
I have never, however, had occasion to use the word ARREAR. Arrears, yes, Arrear, no.
QOD: Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. ~ William Faulkner
LOI
CERO
SHAKO
Is this Tuesday?
Good morning, folks. Thanks to C.C. and Don G. for a swell puzzle. A special thanks to Argyle since I forgot to mention you yesterday.
I did enjoy the Buck Owens clip, by the way. He is one of my favorites from years gone by. "Swinging Doors", etc.
The puzzle was pretty easy to get through. Perhaps more like a Wednesday than a Tuesday. That's OK.
I got started just like I like to, NW then spreading slowly to the SE.
Entered NEAR instead of NIGH for 35D. That was my only write-over. I am still not hot on French. I would rather have Latin.
Never got the theme until I finished, then it loomed. Doesn't a loom have a round part?
I am still here in Lewisville, TX. Hotter than blue blazes.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Hey Argyle and Don:
A really fun and challenging Tuesday. Add me to those who did not know SHAKO, but we did not have a band in high school. The write up was perfect and now to work. Too too Tuesday.
Good Morning CC, Argyle and all,
Delightful write-up, Argyle; you had a lot to cover and you were very concise. Thanks.
Hard G, a neat theme and fun to figure. Definitely harder than a typical Tuesday. Well, let’s say it took longer. I had to back down from ‘overboard’ to OVERBLOWN , for instance. A small ‘clean up’. Quickie perps keep me out of a lot of ‘clean ups’. Also, there was a thought level required, that’s not usually needed on Tuesdays. I think the level is ‘awake’.
Seriously, thanks.
Barry you were a beautiful child.
CC, I’ll try your 'Curious Conundrums'. Thanks.
Have a nice day everyone.
I wondered at first if it was Tuesday too, but everything eventually perped out for me. Many of the names were unknowns or forgotten. I scratched my head over how to spell TAWT, have never heard of a RAW BAR or SHAKO and AWACS is just one of those things I've never bothered to remember.
I stared at 19A IV forever thinking of the Roman numeral for four, until right at the end light dawned. I also had AAH in that corner , thinking of licking one's fingers while eating a tasty morsel, so with RNS, the other aitch appeared and I was home and hosed.
Abejo,
Swinging Doors was done by Merle Haggard, not Buck, but they must have had a swinging door somewhere, because Merle married Buck's ex Bonnie.
Hey, it's all good, right?
CC:
I emailed your puzzle off to the Irish in PDF form and will get it this evening. I'm looking forward to seeing if I have any crossword brain cells left after a few months of cruciverbal celibacy.
Does anyone know where I can download the LAT puzzle in PDF? Her IT Nazi won't let her print the the puzzle from the LAT site because they got a virus in the whole office last winter that he credited to that site. I know, stupid, but what to say? He's a hillbilly, too.
TIA
Thank you Don G. ( for a merciful - ) relatively easy, Tuesday puzzle. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you, Argyle, your commentary was perfect, I enjoyed that very much, too.
I remember the picture of Linda Tripp, very clearly - with the big hairdo - but I don't think I need to see her again.
I thought the French infantrymen wore Shakos, before WW 1 - or was that Kepis ?
I thought the theme had to do with 'Magic' - I think 'Inner Circle' is the official magician's fellowship magazine.... hence I thought - Ring and Coins are the magicians accessories. But I was a little perplexed at Halo. No matter, it did not detract from a pleasant solving experience.
Have a nice week, all.
Hmmm, a puzzle with a reference to Lewinsky (ugh, Linda TRIPP) also has the answer OVERBLOWN.
Cute Don-G ...
Windhover if La Times is blocked send this link to her.
Chicago Tribune
17 I thought póg mo thóins (kiss me rosy Irish bum) then thanks to the downs I realized erin go bragh.
Fun Facts by Dave Letterman
Because of an onion allergy, singer Meatloaf can't eat meat loaf.
Depending on the context, the Hawaiian word "aloha" can mean hello, goodbye, love or gravy.
Good morning everyone. Nice commentary, Argyle.
TRIPP almost GOT ME but TAO kicked in and I remembered the character from the Monica years. Seems like Don likes to allude to his nom de guerre, by including 'HARD C' in this one. Neat. Didn't even notice CERO because the perps took care of it. SHAKO is a new word. I still use a MINOLTA SLR camera bought in 1972. Yes, a couple tough words, but ample and easy perps.
Have a great day.
Red State, maybe you could just post some obituaries for better laughs.
Good morning, Argyle and the Tuesday gang. This seemed a little closer to Wednesday, but everything perped out OK. Don breifly tripped me up when I put in 'everything ALONE' instead of WELL ENOUGH. It didn't take long to undo that mess, though.
TAWT: What the teacher hasn't done if the studen't spells it like that.
Fun puzzle, Don. Thanks
Good Morning Argyle, C.C. et al.
Thanks for explaining the theme to me, Argyle. My puzzle didn’t have the circles, so I was “clueless” to find the hidden INNER CIRCLEs. But, I didn’t need them to solve the puzzle. It was really solid, and the long theme entries were spot on.
My only glitch was to put SSH instead of SHH at 11A. As you all know, I am not really great at baseball clues, but “sANK AARON” just didn’t seem right for some reason, LOL!
And I love how Don warded off any cries of “foul” at 30A by using the objection in the clue… You are a sneaky one, Don G.!!
Learning moment : SHAKO, for drum major’s cap. I’ll add that one to kepi and balaclava for my obscure hat files.
Overall, a real fun challenge for a Tuesday !
Stay cool, everyone!
Hey gang - someone mentioned the Lewinsky/overblown combo -- I saw that too and was looking for 'stogie' for the hat trick.
Then I saw 'hard c', and we have a winner.
Good Morning All, Nice job, Don G.
I just started reading "Cutting For Stone", so Hahtool and I were on the same Addis ABABA track.
Everything seemed to fall into place today. I didn't know DRU Hill, but perps saved me, as they did on CERO and AWACS.
Hmmm. Doesn't the TOBACCO INDUSTRY serve the TOBACCO INDUSTRY? Just sayin'.
I smiled to see 42D Yinglish NEATNIK next to matchmaker YENTE. She might have used that description for a prospective groom.
My son-in-law was in a high school band and they all wore SHAKOs. I've seen photos and they weren't pretty...mostly scrawny 16 year olds with hats that were too big for them. Can't ever forget SHAKO now.
Hi all -
I'm with the ones who questioned whether or not it is TUESDAY. I had a very difficult time with this.
There were a lot of names.
Down: 1,6,7,12,26,31,40
Across: 14,15,25,27,52,54,57.
Most I didn't know and the didn't help me as I didn't know most of them! Arghhhh!
Words like CERO, RYNE, NIGH and LOI were also unknown....I felt like they were more suitable for a Thursday level.
I didn't have any circles in my printed version.
Dennis (9:21) LOL. That was what one would call getting a BIG HEAD.
Linda Tripp
Good morning everyone.
(hah! I finally got er done in the morning here.)
It was a fun run - a run that was fun I mean. It was especially pleasing to write HARD C. I had to write out greko and greco to see how I should spell 1D. The perps helped quite a few, such as LOI, how to spell BRAGH, and figuring out which Turner.
Thanks C.C., but one puzzle a day is enough for me. But I may try it anyhow.
Cheers
To Windhover:
Actually, I believe they both sang "Swinging Doors"
I will check.
Abejo
Hello Puzzlers - I sure enjoyed today's Don G, especially when I got to HARD C - I smiled out loud at that one!
Enjoyed Argyle's writeup too, especially the part where we are forgiven for not watching the links. Good humor, that.
I wore a SHAKO with a tall plume in High School Band. Those rascals are heavy, and they get really hot when you're at attention on the Fourth of July. We generally lost one player per year to fainting.
I'm hoping Netflix will come through with "Shadowlands", the story of C. S. LEWIS. It's on the request list.
Thanks for the splendid write-up, Argyle. And to mainstay Barry G. and others for commenting about the puzzle today.
Got to admit, it was harder than a usual Tuesday. I probably got too ambitious with the grid, as was amply pointed out.
I didn't know if Rich was going to put in the circles. I am glad that he did.
To Tenbeni: I did not purposely put OVERBLOWN in to complement TRIPP. Of course, at least not conciously. In fact, I rely on the sub-concious to create puzzles. By putting it down and picking it up later, I find that I always have an answer for something that I could not see before. Maybe TRIPP and OVERBLOWN was part of that deal.
It's back to the drawing board.
Hi Gang (two hard G's)
I thought I was on Don's wavelength - for a while. Top half was easy - bottom: not so much. Middle section almost GOT ME, but perseverance GOT ME through in 15:34, without an IV or even BEN GAY. (Isn't he the guy who drove his chariot wearing a pink toga?)
TRIPPed over Linda's last name: TRIST? TRITT? TRIPT? DO'H!
LOI? Not for MOI!
CERO and AWACS filled in from Perps. Didn't even see the clues.
Cigar?!? HARD C?!? Dennis WON the trifecta!
Today, we have 2 granddaughters and the A/C repair man. IMBO.
See y'all at The Corner.
Cheers!
JzB
Thanks for the comment, Hard-G. I had a lotta write-up I hadn't needed to use on Monday. Not good to let it build up.
Hello puzzlers! Argyle, you are in good form today; you made me chuckle. Thanks.
Don G., your puzzles are always fun and this one fit the bill.
I, too, read Cutting for Stone and so Addis Ababa is embedded in my brain.
Did anyone notice that CERO is also a circle?
Learning moments today: SHAKO and LOI.
Very nice job, Don G. A good Tuesday workout.
Have a marvelous Tuesday, everyone!
Fun puzzler today Don G! Thanks for the write up Argyle. I didn’t get the theme and I didn’t have the circles but was able to finish with just a little red letter help. I got Rabin, Loi, shako, and Ryne via WAG’s and perps.
I just knew Dennis would chime in on this one with overblown and Tripp. I am with Carol though…I think the trifecta should have been “big head”. John Goodman played Linda Tripp on a SNL episode. It was hilarious. I can’t link from work, but one of you can.
Today is National Flitch Day hey all you happily married folk, go get your bacon.
It’s still a lot more than “tepid” here today. We should see some relief by Thursday.
A walk in a Tuesday park!
Musings
-Here's where Linda Tripp is now
-Linda seemed to catch more grief for betraying Monica than Bill for betraying Hillary
-A store here in town called Big Lots sells a lot of ODD LOTS
-I’ve heard a BOSE wave maker but can’t see that much money for one
-What do you get with a “hank of hair and a piece of bone?”
-Hammerin’ Hank is one of the true gentlemen of the sporting world.
Couldn't figure out what followed Tobacco, and following the theme I decided it was COIL, not COIN. That took some time to figure out.
For some reason my paper (San Jose Mercury News) clued 37A as "Contraire vis-a-vis la ____; Illegal, in Lyons" which didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I got LOI anyway.
Nice puzzle.
Greg
Good Morning puzzlers,
For once it is morning when I finished this one. Pretty much a speed run, it was. And fun! I like seeing the long ones grow. I haven't figured o ut the theme, not unusual for me. I wanted to get here as early as possible for once. Now I'll go to Argyle's blog.
Argyle, great writeup and thanks! Don, this one was lots of fun. I Started off on the wrong foot, entering "dunno" for 1A, but quickly straightened that out with 'Greco', a gimmie! The rest almost filled itself in. 'Shako' was another gimmie because our local H.S. band had a very tall young man as drum major and he was even taller because of the 'shako'. By the time I was in high school, he had graduated and I don't think we ever had another one. Wonder what happened to the Shako? That one was some kind of fur, I think. I suppose the moths finally got it. Remember! this was in the '30s, long before nylon, orlon, acrylic, etc.
Only other problem was 'Dru' which the perps took care of.
Hola Everyone, A little tougher than most Tuesday's in my opinion.
Words like Shako, Nigh, and Loi along with the names of music personalities and sports figures had me going for a while. The perps took care of those so I didn't have any lookups. But it took me a bit longer than usual.
I've not heard the name Raw Bar for an Oyster Bar. Also the crossing of AH SO and SWM for the Bachelor in the personals was the last to be completed. I don't think I've ever seen the SWM before.
Barry, Great pictures of you and your brother. There are some good looking children's photos here on the blog these days.
Our paper had the theme answers in circles today, so they were easy to pick out.
Shako was a gimme as my grandson wore a Shako when he was drum major of his HS Band.
I enjoyed the puzzle with nothing to add that hasn't been said already.
I came across this video on MSNBC about the lonliest man in a Wyoming town with a population of one.
Speaking of SWM. (single, white, male) One of my late DH's secretaries met her husband through the personals; that was before the internet, facebook, etc. She wrote it as a lark and they eventually married, happily I assume.
More recently, I know of three people who have met their spouses through a match on the internet.
Hi, just wanna say thanx to Red State for the fun facts,& to Anon at 9:00 obits are not funny. Not. One. Bit.
I'm guessing it's your GRANDKIDS that are the bullies at school.
Golf quotes:
"It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course."
~ Former baseball home run king Hank Aaron
"The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing."
~ Actress Phyllis Diller
SWM was a gimme. I was listed that way on a few sites about ten years ago, met a SWF on one of the sites and married her less than a year later. We celebrate our ninth anniversary next month.
Raw bar seems to have become a pretty common term here in South Florida. Some of the restaurant menus have a section titled "from the raw bar". I don't pay much attention to the offerings in that section though.
met many nice people at a RAW BAR .
sun and rain, and then the storm; our office building was hit by lightening, awesome and frightening.
be careful out there
Husker Gary: A walkin', talkin' honeycomb? :)
Lemonade714: But it gave us a beautiful rainbow to guide me home tonight! I hope everyone was okay. Any injuries or damage?
Bill G., LOL at the Hank Aaron golf quote - maybe now I will remember him next time he shows up in a puzzle (and not as "sank aaron"!!
BTW, lovely new avatar - does your wife know about your beautiful girlfriend???
Good Evening All! Argyle, you are the best!
Where has Dennis been lately? I'm glad that he chose to comment today (so funny!).
I enjoyed the puzzle and found it a fun distraction from my grandmother duties.
The "hard c" crossing with leave "well enough alone" made me chuckle. With the hurricaine here the last few days, that has been the gist of it! LOL
"nite y'al
When I think of a Raw Bar, my thoughts lean in this direction.
Arglye, I liked the tie in and link to "Windmills of Your Mind". That song always intrigued me, including Ed Ames cover that I linked a couple of weeks ago. The original song was better, IMO, than the movie, The Thomas Crown Affair. The remake of the movie, OTOH, with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, was very good. It even had a near cameo by Faye. The theme song played a lesser role, but was covered by Sting, and was a nice counterpart.
Thanks, Avg Joe. I LOVE that bar scene!
HeartRx: Yes, my wife knows about my 'girlfriend.' She was instrumental in the process.
More golf quotes:
"Golf is a game in which you yell fore, shoot six, and write down five.
~ Radio broadcaster Paul Harvey
"The first time I played the Masters, I was so nervous I drank a bottle of rum before I teed off. I shot the happiest 83 of my life."
~ Golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez
Hi All!
Great work, Don, Argyle. Fun puzzle but got stuck on RYNE for a while.
Didn't have nuclear stress test after all. Mix-up at doctor's office. Hardly slept at all.
HELP! Cannot figure out how to change avatar again! Had no trouble before!
Bye!
Fermatprime and others, to change your photo, do the following steps.
1) Click on your blue name.
2) To the left, click on Edit Profile.
3) Go down and click on Remove Image.
4) Then select where you want to get the image from, probably your computer.
5) Browse until you locate the desired image. Select it.
6) Wait a bit until it gets imported and shows up.
7) Go down and select Save Profile.
Done
Adding to Bill G's instructions above:
I recently found the "Edit Profile" button was missing from my Profile page. Looked everywhere. It turned out that I was not signed in to the Google account at the time. Once I had signed back in, the button appeared where it was supposed to be. From that point it was easy to follow the steps above.
Hope that helps...
Don't know if I am getting Alz. or what. Hopefully just too darn tired to function. Thanks all. Once I hit the (previously hiding in a hole in space) Edit Profile button, it was trivial to change avatar!
My (non-related but only beloved) uncle was a war time photographer. Rec'd a Purple Heart for injuring his hand on a boat! No kids. I was his only niece. Took pictures like mad of me. Died young before I was 8.
Here's one that is DF!
Dudley--perhaps I wasn't signed in at first either. But why?
Hatool:
Did you take a semester abroad while in law school or did your whole legal ed over there? I regret not taking a con/law class in summer when I had the chance (while in law school in L.A.)
I'm curious, they don't have the adversarial system of crim law like we do here, right? I'm interested in the French legal system in light of the DSK case in NYC. Lots of French journalists didn't understand the "perp walk" as I was reading in English language French papers. How did you find that experience?
Thnx, dave
David,
Please re-post your question to Hahtool at Wednesday's Comment section. She might not check this thread.
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