3D. System for which Super Mario Land was developed : NINTENDO GAMEBOY
9D. "Ego Trippin'" rapper : SNOOP DOGG. perps helped here.
11D. Gothic Spanish landmark : TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. impressive.
33D. Dispersed, as a crowd : SCATTERED
57D. Old Venetian judge : DOGE. if i've seen this word before, i forgot. wiki to the rescue again."The "doge" was the senior most elected official of Venice and Genoa; both cities were republics and elected doges."
and the unifier:
Across:
1. Six-pack units : CANS. thought abs at first, not enough letters.
5. Danish director von Trier : LARS. had no idea. wikipedia says he began making his own films at the age of 11.
9. Select the temperature on, as a thermostat : SET AT
14. Dictator Idi : AMIN
15. Parent company of half.com : E-BAY. easy guess.
16. Mother Judd : NAOMI. mother to ashley and wynonna.
17. In vain : TO NO AVAIL. thou shalt not take the lord thy god's name to no avail.
19. Had an eye for figures? : OGLED. love this clue. david beckham, caught ogling.
20. Tallinn native : ESTONIAN. estonia is on the banks of the gulf of finland, south of helsinki and east of stockholm.
21. 1974 Dolly Parton chart-topper : JOLENE. an updated version.
22. George Orwell's alma mater : ETON. another easy guess.
23. Penned (up) : COOPED
25. Every, in an Rx : OMN. hm. must be a bit obscure, does not appear on this master list.
27. Pushed to the limit : TAXED
28. Text-scanning technology, briefly : OCR. optical character recognition.
31. Actor Paul and journalist Hughes : RUDDS. knew paul, but not hughes, who died in 1992 at the age of 71. according to wikipedia he earned a purple heart, six air medals and a silver star as an artillery spotter pilot in the army.
34. Place to play faves : OTB. off track betting.
35. Frère de la mère : ONCLE. french. mother's brother = uncle.
37. Geologic age meaning "without life" : AZOIC. if you say so.
38. Club for GIs : USO. united service organizations. a place to go for dances and social events.
39. AOL alternative : G-MAIL
40. Molten rock : MAGMA. holy hotwick lava bomb. hi lois.
41. Offer in response to "Shake!" : PAW
42. U.S. base in Cuba, in headlines : GITMO. guantanamo bay.
43. Rap sheet initials : AKA. also known as.
44. Many 3-Down users : TEENS
46. Fathers and sons : HES
47. Hard to comb : MATTED
49. Beekeeper played by Fonda : ULEE. welcome back.
52. Enjoyed Wrigley, e.g. : CHEWED. brand of gum. wrigley field is named after william wrigley, jr., the chewing gum magnate.
54. Counted (on) : DEPENDED
58. Picture book elephant : BABAR
59. 1947 Hope/Crosby film : ROAD TO RIO
60. Bring to mind : EVOKE
61. Farming prefix : AGRO
62. Singer k.d. : LANG. barefoot.
63. Like asters : RAYED. see?
64. Qtys. of sugar : TSPS. teaspoons.
65. On the safer side : ALEE
Down:
2. Hebrew prophet : AMOS. old testament, after joel and before obadiah.
4. High-and-mighty type : SNOOT. funny word.
5. "Rosemary's Baby" author : LEVIN. ira. directed by roman polanski.
6. Simple rhyme scheme : ABAA
8. Word part: Abbr. : SYL. syllable.
10. Postal service symbol : EAGLE
12. "I totally agree!" : AMEN
13. Oceanic routine : TIDE
18. Enero to enero, e.g. : ANO. spanish. january to january = year.
21. Average guy? : JOE
24. U-shaped river bends : OXBOWS
25. Store display suffix : ORAMA. meaning "spectacular display or instance of," abstracted frompanorama, ultimately from Greek horama [ὅραμα] "sight."
26. Carols at the mall, usually : MUZAK
27. Rug with nothing swept under it? : TOUPEE. great clue.
29. Weather, in verse : CLIME. clear ayes, got an example for us?
30. Moves, to a Realtor : RELOS. relocates.
32. Hard to read by, as light : DIM
36. Abbr. for John Doe, perhaps : NMI. no middle initial. seems like it should be no middle name.45. SFO info : ETD. airport talk for estimated time of departure.
48. Up and about : AWAKE
49. French twists, e.g. : UPDOS
50. Gave permission : LET
51. Name on a celebrated B-29 : ENOLA. the enola gay. first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb (on hiroshima) as a weapon of war.
52. Radio-active one? : CB-ER. nice.
53. "__ Nagila" : HAVA
55. O.K. Corral lawman : EARP. wyatt.
56. A, to Albrecht : EINE. german. one, or a, or someone. i'll let kazie help me out here.
59. Dock rodent : RAT
melissa
44 comments:
Morning, all!
Sorry, but this one gets a solid "meh" from me. Not a bad puzzle, but I didn't find it nearly as enjoyable as Melissa. The theme was really basic, but got ruined a bit by the fact that DOG isn't really "hidden" in SNOOP DOGG.
I could have done without AZOIC, OMN, ONCLE, HES, RAYED, SYL, ORAMA and RELOS. There was plenty of good stuff with clever clues, but it was equally matched by all the clunky stuff.
Learning moment today was that TOLEDO CATHEDRAL is an actual, specific building. It sounded like a generic name (like "New York Church") and I was going to complain about calling it a landmark, but waddaya know?
Good Morning, MelissaBee and friends. Great write-up and I loved your opening photo of the RAINING CATS AND DOGS. I thought this puzzle was easier that its weekly predecessors. I wasn't keen on the NINTENDO GAME BOY, since that was the only theme clue where the DOG spanned two words.
My favorite clues were Rug with Nothing Swept Under it = TOUPEE, which went nicely with Can't Be Parted = MATTED.
I also smiled at Radio-Active One = CBer.
I wasn't so keen on the crossing of ORAMA and AZOIC, though.
Another very hot day here.
QOD: If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else. ~ Yogi Berra
Solid meh from me also.
Good day folks,
Some days I feel I'm getting too old for crossword puzzles and today was one of those days. Rappers, Nintendo products (or any current game products) , or computer lingo usually are way outside of my wheelhouse. Today was one of those days and I struggled. And to add to my confusion, so many clunky words, mostly mentioned by Barry G.
Anyways, the result was a DNF because of 25D Instead of ORAMA, I wagged ARAMA. Had no idea what 25A was and it "ain't" on any of my RX's.
Overall, I didn't find much about Mr. Lim's offering to like and I'm sure my "joyous"mood has something to do with it.
Oh well, Phys Therapy today. Pity my therapist! She's really been a huge help, but.......
melissabee missed sCATtered in her write-up. I mention it because I am impressed by Julian placing the hidden words in almost perfect symmetry.
Morning CC, Melissa and All,
I really liked this one. Three top to bottom fills that perps just kept me plugging away at. Nailed 7D early. Toledo Cathedral was the last to get filled in thanks to Cat. Favorite clue was Enjoyed Wrigley. Maybe a little on the light difficulty side for a Wednesday, but fun.
Appropriate theme for the weather here today. It's pouring and we need it.
Great write up Melissa! I can honestly say Beckman couldn't help himself. I can't blame him. Wow!
Happy Hump Day!
Good Morning Melissa, C.C. et al.
What a fun write-up for a fun puzzle today, Melissa. Thank you! I loved, loved, loved the picture at the beginning of your blog.
This is another classic example of "to each his own". Maybe it was because my puzzle did not have the circles (I download from cruciverb onto my iPad), but I thoroughly enjoyed the clues/fill on this one. Then I went on a treasure hunt at the end to find all the cats and dogs (yes, I did find them all!)
I did learn AZOIC today, so that's a good thing. My one quibble is with OMN. As melissa pointed out, it is not an "approved" abbreviation for Rxs.
I loved seeing SNOOT, and TOUPEE with awesome clues, and CB-ER as "Radio-active one". Fun stuff - thanks, Julian!
Happy hump day to everyone!
It took some digging but I found it. 25A. Every, in an Rx : OMN. is a partial!
OMN. NOCTE.(or OMN NOCT) - abbreviation for the Latin term omni nocte, "every night."
Wow, did we wake up on the wrong side of the crossword today or what? This was a truly skillful visual replete with creative cluing and a most difficult grid with so few 3 or 4 letter words.
Like all medical prescription terminology which comes from a Latin base, OMN is the abbreviation for OMNIA, which means ALL in Latin and is the root of OMNIPOTENT, OMNIVORE and many more words.
Thanks mb, good to see your words and the pic was precious. Anything fun on your birthday?
I'm with Mainiac and Melissa. I really liked this one. It was light and funny. I didn't notice any clunkers.
For "geological age" I thought of "mesozoic", then changed the prefix to "a" meaning not.
25A - I had "mn" from perps. Reminded me of omni, so "omn"
Daisies and asters are often refered to as rayed.
I can't think of Idi Amin without thinking of the movie, "The Last King of Scotland..".... truly an evil person.
I got NMI from perps. it had to be,but I didn't understand it until I came here. V-8 can time. Of course!! NMI is often used for no middle initial.
Fastest puzzle of the week.
Argyle@7:26, thanks for tracking it down. But "omn" would never appear on a prescription. It would be either "om" (omne mane, every morning) or "on" (omne nocte, every night). There are strict rules governing what can and cannot be used as abbreviations, so as to avoid any possible errors or confusion about what the doctor ordered.
But with all the other great stuff in the puzzle, I'll give him that one!
Thank you Melissa, and good morning everyone. I have to cast my vote in the liked it column. But then that would be expected given 21D. I found it to be very challenging, but still was able to complete it. Last fill was ORAMA. I didn't want to let go of oZOIC due to Yellowrocks same mental cluing with Mesozoic. Also had never heard of either RUDD or OMN, but was saved by diORAMA setting off the alarm in my pointy little head.
Here's my favorite song by k d lang, a Leonard Cohen cover: Hallelujah
I didn't mean to imply that I didn't like today's puzzle. I did like it. In re-reading my post I see that it does appear a bit negative. Overall, though, I loved the Cats and Dogs theme and clues.
Also, a nice shout-out to our Avg Joe.
G'morning all!
Melissa,
A fine job blogging! You nailed the EINE to my satisfaction. All I would add is that Albrecht Dürer often signed his paintings just with an "A", looking like a pi symbol atop a D, hence, his initials.
I can't decide if I liked this CW or not. I got through it with multiple WAGS for the many unknowns. At first it seemed like I'd have to troll the G-spot for most of it, but managed to avoid that. I guess I sort of concur with both Barry G and Hondo: Rappers, games, sports and technology leave me in the dust. I guess there wouldn't be much of that after all the CATS AND DOGS raining.
Another busy day, have a good one!
Good morning, MB and happy humpers, all. Put me in the "I like it" camp. I was really impressed with the symmetry and the three vertical grid spanners. With constraints like that in the construction, there's usually a couple of clunkers in the fill.
Sure, there were a few obscure names, but most were pretty obvious from perps. Like several others, I figured out OMN as being related to OMNi and it was logical to put an 'A' on the ZOIC that was already in place. I wasn't sure about the store displays, but, with everything but the R' in place, I could associate it with diORAMA or panORAMA and RUDDS seemed as good as any of the other possibles there. TADA!
Good morning all. Nice commentary, Melissa.
A fun , initially moderately difficult. But then the circles began to fill in and it was TEEMING with CATS and DOGS. Many of the circled missing fill had to be either part of a cat or a dog. Thus the long down fills came home including TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. Liked seeing OXBOWS. Herewith some oxbow bends . Here is Mozart's EINE Kleine Nachtmusik . Thought the clue for PAW was quite clever.
Great job, Julian
Have a fine day.
It is teeming here for the 3rd day in-a-row.
Yup, CATS & DOGS all over the place.
So this puzzle was appropriate.
Fave for me was that Dock RAT. lol
Not to take anything away from the LAT puzzle but WOW! NYT had three LONG palindrome answers today! For most constructors that`s akin to impossible! Give it a try, CC and Marti! If any of them can, YOU two can!
I am surprised you are not familiar with this excerpt from the 1892 edition of the Dictionary of Medicine:
Omn. bib., omni biliora, every two hours.
Omn. hor., omni hora, every hour.
Omn. noct., omni node, every night.
I refer you to:
1892 Dictionary of Medicine
A New Pronouncing
DICTIONARY OF MEDICINE
being
A VOLUMINOUS AND EXHAUSTIVE HANDBOOK
of
MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY
with
PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION, ACCENTUATION, ETYMOLOGY, ETC.
BY
JOHN M. KEATING, MD. LLD. and
HENRY HAMILTON
Publisher: PHILADELPHIA
B. SAUNDERS, 13 WALNUT STREEET
1892
NC
Julian, loved, loved your puzzle! Creative and doable w/ perps (CCR) and wag (OMN). Perps steered me from agri to AGRO.
Thanks to Melissa Bee for great write-up; pic was oh so fun! An added thanks to Argyle and HeartRx for your extra work on OMN. HeartRx, you sound as if you called your pharmacy this AM.
Yellowrocks, my snake wasn’t nearly as big as yours!
Hondo, what you need is AvgJoe’s link to k.d.lang. A dose of that each morning will make you kick up your heels and forget your age.
AvgJoe, you won link-o-day award, today. At least in the music division.
Good Morning All, After the first couple of CATS/DOGS and RAIN in position, it became much easier than it would have been otherwise.
The theme hook definitely helped with finishing up NINTENDO GAME BOY and TODEDO CATHEDRAL.
I didn't like 6D "Simple rhyme scheme"/ABAA. I "G'd quatrain rhyme scheme and I couldn't find a single poem with that scheme. All the patterns were AABB, ABAB, ABBA or ABCB. ABAA may be simple, but it isn't used, at least not that I could find.
I can't gripe or praise too much. Today is cribbage day, so I've got to get ready. Have a good one.
A few corrections (this is getting to be a daily habit):
'so big as..'
Sounded, not 'sound'
and finally(I think): OCR,not CCR. Still thinking of some great music from yesterday .
N.C. @ 10:20, LOL. Yes, that was the "modern" volume that I studied in school in 1892, but I must have forgotten those abbrs...
Hi gang -
Though I take note of the objections, I really do like this puzzle. The grid is masterful, and the clues quite amusing.
MB - love your theme and the pic.
That said, though, I really do not like the West central region. I had the long down, MAGMA, AZOIC, and AKA - but TO NO AVAIL. I refuse to equate MUZAK with "carols . . . usually." The ORAMA-OMN cross should be swept under the rug. Peter and Hughs are mystery men to me.
But I liked all the rest.
Brets yesterday, Judds and Rudds today.
ABAA:
From Rudd to Judd - a one letter switch/
An inconstant consonant start/
I can never remember which Judd is which/
Though I'm fairly certain that none is a witch.
Cheers!
JzB
Hi to all:
Had fun with this puzzle! Quaque or q for every or qid for every four hours. OMN must be a very obscure definition, but thanks Argyle for your research. I only got it because of Orama, but that word and Muzak were my last two word fills.
Spitzbov: Wouldn't that be AABA and not ABAA?
Barry -
A cathedral is not just any old church. It is the official seat and priciple church of a bishop's diocese. Rather a big deal, actually.
The other Toledo Cathedral.
Cheers!
JzB
62 Singer Lang K.D.
Constant Craving
55 OK Corral Lawman Earp
I used Kurt Russell from his role in Tombstone as Wyatt Earp. With Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday "I'm ya huckleberry"
Tombstone
Fun Facts By Dave Letterman
Although God ordered him to put two of each animal on the ark, Noah got a few extra cows because he liked pot roast.
Although they all used to live in Texas, one of George Strait's exes has since relocated to Arizona.
Spitzboov, missed the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in the rundown of rhyme schemes, but most of it is written in AABA quatrains, not ABAA.
Bough(A)
Thou(A),
Wilderness(B),
Enow(A),
I looked a bit more and found the "Villanelle" form of poetry:.It is made up of five stanzas of "ABA" and then a final quatrain "ABAA".
Examples are Theodore Roethke's The Waking and Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
The Villanelle is a very structured poetry form and although the rhyme scheme may be simple it is a difficult poem to create.
CA Lets try this again; ABAA:
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Hello everybody. Enjoyed the puzzle today and melissa's writeup. A nice way to start a Wednesday. Had the same reactions to some of the fill as you all did, and smiled at the same clever clues that you all did.
Saw AMIN and AMEN and was struck by the sudden thought (which I have been struck with many times before) that one letter difference in a word can make such a huge difference!
That Toledo Cathedral is quite a specacular building.
BTW, I worked Marti's SSS puzzle today too, and have pretty much the same comments about it that were already stated.
Best wishes to you all.
Creature,I hope you never run across a rattlesnake as big as my picture when you are mowing. It must have been a fright to find one!
Thanks to Argyle for giving me instructions on how to include the picture in the blog. It worked! I have bookmarked the page.
Almost put on long pants to play golf this morning. What a glorious fall preview! Put me in the "like" column on this humpday activity with a few quibbles as well.
Musings
-DOGE’s Palace on St. Mark’s square in Venice is very impressive and the art work fabulous!
-Cathedral in Colon (Koln) is like the one in Toledo where it makes you feel very insignificant as a human being!
-As a kid we returned 6 packs of bottles for 2¢/bottle. Big Money!
-I was MAXED before I was TAXED which delayed my TOUPEE!
-I saw Clove and Blackjack gum (not Wrigley’s) being sold for $1.79/5 stick pack at mall yesterday!
-You’re old when rebel music of your youth is on MUZAK! I Can’t Get No Satisfaction on an elevator!
-ENOLA Gay was built in Omaha
-Marti, I can’t imagine any snake, let alone a rattler, avoiding grass!
Good afternoon, Melissa and fellow puzzlers.
Wow! I'm so late to this party as I overslept and missed my yoga class! I can't believe it. Am I really that old?
Ah, well, Julian Lim awoke me with a start and I dug into his puzzle like a hungry DOG and CHEWED my way through it.
Both hands up waving wildly; I really liked this in spite of some clunky fill. First, I thought the vertical parallel fill was ingenious.
Then the theme, although we haven't seen much rain this summer it was great in the puzzle.
I especially chuckled with radio-active one, CBER and had an eye for figures, OGLED. We see that word so often and yet that was a new and fresh clue.
Melissa, loved your blog and the photo!
The Cathedral in Toledo is officially called La Catedral de Santa Maria de Toledo or the Cathedral of St. Mary of Toledo and it is awe inspiring when walking across the bridge toward it.
Everyone, I hope your Wednesday is superb! Loved the music links, too.
Good afternoon everyone.
This has been the best puzzle ever. As I am an addicted dog lover, it was so much fun to see them, and of course the cats, all through the puzzle. Helped me get all the theme answers, which is a rarity for Wednesday. And obviously I truly liked the PAW answer. What fun, especially since it's been a day of seeing doctors for me and DH. Kept at the puzzle during the waits.
Thanks for the great write up, Melissa B. And that picture! Perfect.
Cheers
Hola Everyone, Good to see you today Melissa. Thanks for the answers to some of my unknowns. OTB, NMI, Rudd, CB-er, for afew.
Rayed crossed C-Ber and I had no clue. Asters could be purple, dried, fall flowers, blooms, but rayed was the last thing I thought of. Azoic wasn't on my radar either and I thought Snoot was funny. Snooty, yes, but not Snoot.
I wasn't too fond of the puzzle today, though I thought the Cat and Dog theme was fun. I loved your introductory picture, MB.
Have a good evening everyone.
"Had an eye for figures." Very clever.
Ducks crossing the road. Maybe they need a crossing guard?
Goot a recipe for pressed duck?
That's a neat video Bill. There's a town in central NE, Grand Island, with a population of 40,000~. They have a large Mallard influx at times during the year, typically during the spring. They'll walk around like they are natural citizens. I've seen similar scenes to those in your video where traffic will stop and let ducks cross major streets unmolested. It's rather quaint. But it also restores your faith in human nature when you see something like that. Still, it's not enough to make you want to wear a tie. :-)
AvgJoe, late last evening I replied, "As I remember, a tie is something you have to do to your shoes if you don't have Velcro or sandals. And it's something showy you can choke yourself with if you're not careful. I've also heard about long pants but I've kinda forgotten about them too."
Dennis, if you're still reading the blog, the Phillies' dismantling of the Dodgers was fun to watch. And coming back today from 6-0 in the second inning to win the game was the coup de grace. I think you've got a World Series coming there in Philadelphia.
Hello friends,
Great comments tonight!I've been humming "A Little Night Music" while reading them, Spitzboov, until I saw Bill G's "duck parade" and had to LOL!
I'll join the like side on this one even though I DNF. It was the center that got me. I just could NOT think of 'taxed' even after going to Roget. And I'd heard of Oxbow but never knew it was a bend in the river. I got USO, of course, but OTB and 'paw' escaped me! Otherwise, I thought it was clever and funny and very doable. How come no one else had 'middle trouble'? Ihad the 'rain cats and dogs' early on, but it didn't help.
There's a good scientific reason why rivers have those bends in them. The Shanandoah, back where I grew up and where Lois lives, is famous for them. The word "meander" refers to that 'bendy' shape in a river, but you probably already knew that.
Dodo, I'm glad you and Joe liked the ducks. Did you ever solve your picture problem?
Bill G and Spitzboov,
When a senile stream rejuvenates itself by cutting a straight path through instead of following the oxbows, they become isolated as "oxbow lakes", in the exact same shape as those yoke irons Spitzboov linked. I knew the concept and understood the name before, but never saw the two juxtaposed so graphically until today.
Bill G:
Those ducks crossing the street were featured in a local news channel. They are fun to watch.
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