Theme: Oh, Bother! - Self-explanatory theme.
17A. Invasive airline inconvenience : BODY SCANNER
29A. Uncomfortable airline inconvenience : CRAMPED SEAT
46A. Wearying airline inconvenience : LONG LAYOVER
64A. Excruciating airline inconvenience (the last straw!) : LOST LUGGAGE
Argyle here. This appears to be a debut puzzle for Mr. St. John. Well done.
Across:
1. Dinner wear for the highchair set : BIBs
5. Talisman : AMULET. Just in time for Halloween. Image.
11. Spoil : MAR. As in "My great vacation was marred by the horrible flight home!"
14. Working without __ : A NET
15. Next to : BESIDE
16. Sam Adams product : ALE
19. Groovy relative? : RAD. Dead relative, I think. But then groovy doesn't look too healthy either.
20. One with an office couch, maybe : ANALYST. Possible connection to our constructor, I don't know.
21. Untrustworthy : KNAVISH. Knave, which formerly meant merely a boy or servant, in modern use emphasizes baseness of nature and intention.
23. __ garden : ZEN. Maybe you could fit this in your carry-on luggage and find inner peace while waiting on the tarmac. Image.
24. A/C measure : BTU
26. Durante's "__ Dinka Doo" : INKA. Clip (3:31) and I pity anyone who gets an earworm from THIS!
27. Wood-dressing tool : ADZ. Another How To clip.(3:35)
33. President when Texas was annexed : POLK. In 1845, the Republic of Texas annexed and admitted it to the Union as the 28th state.
35. With 1-Down, discoverer of cave treasure : ALI. 1D. See 35-Across : BABA
36. Island ring : LEI
37. Salon polish target : TOE NAIL
39. Flippable card file : ROLODEX
43. Mag. edition : ISS. Magazine issue
44. Father's Day mo. in Australia : SEP. The first Sunday in September.
45. Congenial : NICE
51. Lawn strip : SOD
52. Moonfish : OPAH. Image. Check out the site it's from.
53. Lumberjack's tool : AXE. An axe and an adze together.
54. Subj. with x's : ALG. Algebra.
56. Faraway : DISTANT
59. Paid no attention to : IGNORED
63. Roam (about) : GAD. Do you remember this guy?
66. Due-in hr. : ETA
67. One way to share : EVENLY
68. Clickable image : ICON
69. Not optional: Abbr. : REQ. Required.
70. French film festival site : CANNES. On the south coast of France.
71. "__ la vie" : C'EST. French, "Such is life".
Down:
2. Part of, as a plot : IN ON
3. Awe : BEDAZZLE
4. Panache : STYLE
5. Basics : ABCs
6. Spaghetti go-with : MEATBALL. I had marinara first.
7. Mil. branch : USN
8. Connection : LINK UP
9. Barbara who played a genie : EDEN
10. Giga- x 1,000 : TERA. 1012
11. Oceanic : MARINE
12. State with the Big Dipper on its flag : ALASKA. Flag.
13. Papa Smurf's headgear : RED HAT. Image.
18. Pop music's 'N__ : SYNC
22. Sight : VISION
25. "More than I need to know!" : TMI. Too Much Information.
27. Suited : APT
28. Scooby-__ : DOO
30. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA. Here with Rev. Moon.
31. Skip church, in a way? : ELOPE
32. Sci-fi's Lester __ Rey : DEL. American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey is especially famous for juvenile novels.
34. Jumping chess piece : KNIGHT. Moves are L-shaped.
38. Comm. for the hearing-impaired : ASL. American Sign Language. COMM stands for communication, in this case?
39. Military day starter : REVEILLE
40. Shame : DISGRACE
41. Green prefix : ECO
42. Struck (out) of the text : Xed
44. Red or White team : SOX
46. Inn resident : LODGER
47. Morphine, e.g. : OPIATE
48. Where YHOO stock is traded : NASDAQ. Yahoo!, not Yoo-Hoo.
49. China's Sun : YAT-SEN. The foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" (國父), a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China.
50. Pealed : RANG
55. Spock's forte : LOGIC
57. Baldwin of "30 Rock" : ALEC
58. Bright star : NOVA
60. Dolls' dates : GUYs
61. They may not be quiet on the set : EGOs
62. Small body-shop job : DENT
65. Former Opry network : TNN. The Nashville Network, is usually referred to as TNN. The Opry was aired from 1985 until 2000 on TNN.
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
I'd like to share with you this beach "postcard" I got from JD. So sweet! Here are a couple of Nenes. JD said: They plan to catch all of them and transfer them to Maui. When we first started going to Kauai, about 15 years ago, there were about 20 pairs (they mate for life) and were on the endangered list. They have multiplied and nest and congregate too close to the airport. Many of them live at the Kauai Lagoons Golf Course which is next to the airport.
Note from C.C.:
I'd like to share with you this beach "postcard" I got from JD. So sweet! Here are a couple of Nenes. JD said: They plan to catch all of them and transfer them to Maui. When we first started going to Kauai, about 15 years ago, there were about 20 pairs (they mate for life) and were on the endangered list. They have multiplied and nest and congregate too close to the airport. Many of them live at the Kauai Lagoons Golf Course which is next to the airport.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteLovely Tuesday puzzle. Nothing too surprising, and the theme answers were very easy to get. I've never experienced a BODY SCANNER, but everything else highlights exactly why I hate to fly.
Speaking of body scanners, though, I thought the whole point of them was that they were non invasive (as opposed to, say, body cavity searches)...
Hi all!
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle, thanks Steven and Argyle!
Favorite answers were those to the theme.
I have a new/refurbished MacBook Pro working now with Snow Leopard. Some problems not yet ironed out. Among them, the trackpad drives me crazy and the scanner won't cooperate. Will have to make more phone calls!
Here is the weird story I promised you Saturday. (I type with great difficulty.) On Thursday at 1:09 pm the LA County Sheriff's Office called with a recording that said that there was a fugitive on the loose in the area which included my property. They said, further, that they were using a chemical agent to stop the person and that we should all lock our doors and windows and stay inside. Many helicopters were whirring overhead. (The sherrif's message said that we could call the local police station for verification.)
To be Continued...
Continuation...
ReplyDeleteEventually my helper arrived and the door were locked. Then friend Harvey arrived and told of seeing police cars blocking streets. Soon after, snug alone in my room I read a book while the cacophony above continued. At 11:16 pm the Sherrif's Office called again to say that we could behave normally again. The end.
Cheers!
Good day folks,
ReplyDeleteHad some difficulty with the North today, but the Central and South were easy solves. The crossing D in Rad and Red Hat was a wag because neither clue was in my wheelhouse. Ditto for the crossing A in Knavish and Tera.
Favorite clue was Inka only because it recognizes one of my favorite performers, past and present. So in Jimmy's honor I'll close with "Good night Mrs Calabash, wherever you are."
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. At the first pass, I was afraid that I would be a difficult Tuesday, but then i took a deep breath and was able to finish the puzzle with only one error, which was easily corrected. (I thought the Smurf wore RED Caps, not HATS).
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I have experienced each of the "wonderful" airline inconveniences in the puzzle. Ah, the perils of modern travel.
I nice new fresh clue for EDEN.
My favorite clue was Skipped Church = ELOPED.
I'm afraid Gadabout Gaddis was before my time.
JD, thanks for your photos. When I first started doing crosswords in the Boston Globe, the NENEs appeared often, so I have always remembered the bird of Hawaii.
QOD: I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~ E. B. White
Good Morning C.C., Argyle et al.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fun write-up on this nasty theme, Argyle! I didn’t go for the earworm of Jimmy Durante, nope, not me, no way, no how… I did enjoy the link to Gaddabout Gaddis, though. My father was an avid fisherman, and he always watched that show on Saturdays.
Back to the theme, though. I got madder and madder as I worked my way through the puzzle. At the final entry of LOST LUGGAGE, I was totally exasperated and infuriated. But “excruciated”???
So I can’t say it was a “fun” puzzle, but nicely done. KNAVISH, ZEN, ROLODEX and BEDAZZLE all were gems.
Thanks, C.C., for sharing the “postcard” from JD - that was so sweet! And I have seen “nene” so many times in crossword puzzles, but it was nice to actually see what they look like. I never knew that they were on the endangered list.
Have a lovely day, everybody!
I'm finally back --if only for today. Friday and Saturday I had DNFs, maybe because of having people around the whole time--anyway that's my excuse. I enjoyed Monday's but then never had time to come here.
ReplyDeleteToday was fun--not thoughts of the theme of course, but having some NICE fresh clues, with only one erasure--I had TELE- for ROLO-DEX until perps stepped in. If this is a debut puzzle, it was certainly a good one and offers much promise for more to come. I much prefer body scanners to a groping search.
Interesting to note that Father's Day in Oz is at the beginning of Spring there, while here it's at the end of Spring. Mother's Day is the same--2nd Sunday in May.
JD,
Neat nene photo and what a thoughtful postcard!
Have a good one all of you!
PuzzleGirl pointed out that the sequence of theme matches how one may experience these things on a trip. I missed that.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Argyle and all.
ReplyDeleteFairly easy for a Wednesday; no lookups or strikethroughs. Liked the theme but don't believe they were necessarily arranged in their order of onerousness. No nits to pik. Liked seeing ADZ and AXE in the same puzzle. BABA was easy once ALI came in. ALASKA was easy to suss out from the clue. TERA is commonly seen, for example, in electric energy delivery contracts between systems, Terawatt-hours.
The two KN words have German cognates:
KNIGHT - Knecht; servant or a farm hand
KNAVE - Knabe; boy or young man.
Both the k and n are pronounced as is the ch as in 'ach'
What a nice Tuesday puzzle with just enough spice to make it fun! Steven is now my second most favorite St. John.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Our worst airline experience has been temporarily lost luggage in Honolulu, Rome and Berlin
-The ZEN master coach Phil Jackson is in a terrific Audi commercial where a diner manager tells The LA Laker coach that he doesn’t know anything about working with people with large egos.
-Hey, President Polk, I think Mexico wants Texas back!
-Oh, not the cake BABA
-I see a lot of SOD being laid in squares now
-I thought Faraway was two words
-Oh, that’s how you spell REVEILIE!
-So that’s a NENE. Nice shot and greeting, JD!
-Fermat, are you now acting normally?
-Some of Pres. Obama’s green initiatives like SOLYNDRA seem not so clean. Every president seems to have a Teapot Dome, Iran/Contra, Billie Sol Estes, Watergate, White Water, ad nauseum.
Spitz,
ReplyDeleteI forgot to comment on the German cognates. Thanks for catching them. But it's a Tuesday puzzle--not Wednesday, maybe that's why it was easy for a Wednesday! LOL!
Thank you Mr. St. John for a very nice puzzle and Argyle for a lovely commentary.
ReplyDeleteThe Opah fish looks very similar to a Silver Pomfret, which is a prized ( and relatively-somewhat-more expensive) fish in near East and far-east Asia. The ( cooked - ) flesh of the Pomfret is like frozen butter.
I just learnt that Knaves - wherever they may be, are supposedly untrustworthy. This is very useful, since I now know not to confide to them, my ATM Pin number, should I happen to run into one of them.
Alt QOD: When I first said I was going to make it as a comedian, everybody laughed. But they're not laughing now ! ~ Bob Monkhouse.
Have a good week, you all.
Argyle: Great write-up & earworm.
ReplyDelete(I was getting tired of Be-Bop-A-Lula).
FUN Tuesday, thanks Steven.
NICE themes and I think the order of "inconvenience" was the key.
Really liked how he got in LEI & LAY.
Wonder if Dennis got his birthday present.
Here in Tampa Bay they are going crazy ...
First over our wonderful little guy, Winter, the STAR of Dolphin Tale. Good movie, IMHO.
Secondly over the Rays-v-Red SOX drama.
So this "Evil-Empire" lover will toast them both at Sunset.
Yup, for the first-time, in my life, I am going to cheer FOR the Yankee's opponent.
GO RAYS !!!
Thanks, Kazie for catching my date faux pas. Played bridge a little too late last night. (was surprised Argyle blogged today, too. -))
ReplyDeleteBelated Happy Birthday to Dennis. All the best to you.
Nice 'beach' card to C.C. Thanks for sharing.
Some celebrity smileys, I came across.
ReplyDelete5:-) Elvis Presley
:-) B Dolly Parton
:-.) Madonna
(Z):^P Napoleon
*<|:-) Santa Claus
and others,
>[:^] watches too much
TV
::-b | d-:: person with
glasses sticking out tongue at mirror
Good morning, Argyle and the gang. Nicely done on the write up (thanks for the shoutout in the write up picture) and very well done on the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteYep, have experienced all of those annoying aspects of flying. I did notice that they appeared in the order you might encounter them.
I have no problem with the body scanner. With an artificial hip and extra metal plates in the same area, a pat down was a guaranteed thing before scanners. The last one I went through flagged something, so I had to be hand searched anyway. The problem turned out to be a spare button that was sown to the bottom of the pocket on my slacks.
AMULET... ian't that something that you have to break some eggs to make?
Good Morning All, I wasn't thrilled to see the puzzle begin with the cross reference between 1D)BABA and 35A)ALA.
ReplyDeleteAfter that I liked the theme, but it did remind me of some frustrating times. ENDLESS LINES is another theme peeve for us. Am I wrong, but does LAX not have any information kiosks anymore?
There was quite a trial in Alice In Wonderland. The KNAVE of Hearts was on trial for this accusation:
The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer day:
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!
Alice woke up before the sentence could be announced. (The verdict was to have come later.)
Very cute postcard, JD.
Anony-Mouse, you forgot my beard.
ReplyDelete*<|:-)>>
Santa
Good morning, folks. Great puzzle, Steven St John. Great write-up, Argyle. Enjoyed the links.
ReplyDeleteStarted this one in the NE, since Sam Adams caught my attention. ALE was my first entry. My favorite beer is Sam Adams Black Lager. Great stuff!
Enjoyed the theme. They all came easily. I have experienced them all. My first body scan was last Thursday at O'Hare Field. No problem. They did want to inspect my cooler that I was carrying. I had a frozen container of golabki (cabbage rolls) inside for my supper. The TSA guy got a kick out of it.
Did not know 38D ASL. Got it with perps. Argyle explained.
On my way to Buffalo, NY. The bus has WIFI and my IPAD is working great.
I see the Nene's in the picture are tagged. That is good.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Husker Gary,
ReplyDeleteBTW, Jill. St. John's birth name was Jill Arlyn Oppenheim. She is the daughter of a socialite from Beverly Hills.
Just for the heck of it-
ReplyDeleteChange MARINE to WAHINE, ELOPE to EPODE, SOX to JOY, APT to AFT and I'll be damned... a pangram.
Had "hookup" for 8d and stubbornly held onto it...there by ruining any chance of completing middle top. A trip to Santa`s blog was the only solution. *<]:->>
ReplyDeleteFavorite clue: "salon polish target" and "one way to share" (which is seldom accomplished.) Have done a good bit of landscaping and have also encountered sod only in squares.
Learning moment :Alaska has the big dipper on it`s flag. I confidently inked in "Alabama" (because of their tag logo: "stars fell on Alabama") and knew it had to be another when I ran out of squares!
"Cannes ("Can") always throws me spelling-wise.
OH! I so wanted "Kens" for 60a.
Haven`t covered the pool yet...still getting in even though the water is pretty chilly...but if I get in, in the middle of the day...I can handle it. Dipping out the fallen leaves works up a sweat that can only be assuaged by getting in it!
Argyle & commenters,
ReplyDeleteIt's really a blast to read the positive feedback! Indeed, this is my debut puzzle. PuzzleGirl would be right; the theme entries were placed in sequence that one might encounter the hassles. I had submitted a puzzle with this theme a year or so earlier and Mr. Norris suggested that so-ordering the theme answers would be an improvement.
I dreamed this one up while doing a crossword in an in-flight magazine. For obvious reasons, I didn't try to sell my puzzle there...
Thanks for stopping by, Steven. There were several Steven J. St. John's on the internet. If you would care to say which one is you, email me.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Aussies go by that old joke that Mother's Day is nine months after Father's Day.
ReplyDeleteGood day, puzzlers. Thanks, Argyle, for your blogging and links.
ReplyDeleteNice speed run from Steven J. St. John, thank you and thanks for stopping by.
I enjoyed this because I love traveling and even with the inconveniences, though my luggage has never been lost, I love it.
My first body scan was last spring in the Cincy/KY airport. Nothing to it.
I was, however, BEDAZZLEd by ZEN, KNAVISH, and ADZ. That is some great fill.
My TOENAILS are always polished, usually RED.
Fav clues:
skip church in a way, ELOPE
dolls' dates, GUYS
ETA fit the theme.
JD:
Nice photos and cute postcard.
Have a terrific Tuesday, everyone!
Good morning Argyle, C.C. And all,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely loved your theme and puzzle, Mr. St. John. Long layovers and cramped seats are not fun, but having a good book always helps.
I had trouble putting the q on NASDAQ...started with a c..then a k.Spelling reveille also threw me.
Knavish was my last fill..cool word for a Tuesday. No way did I know Yat-den (sorry C.C.) and Polk was a wag.
NENE population is over 2000 now on Kauai. In 1982 Hurricane IWA released many caged birds,, including chickens- which are everywhere. There are no predators- no mongoose (plural?) there.
Fun puzzle. I had the same comments as most of you.
ReplyDeleteI found this fascinating. It's a video about building living bridges. I think most people in the US might not have the patience for such a long-term project. I think it is much more impressive when viewed full screen.
Bill G:
ReplyDeleteFascinating! Even more fascinating is the ingenuity of humans to adapt to their environment.
Hello.
ReplyDeleteDitto.
Summer still here. Temp in back yard shade to go to low 90s again.
Talk about the Rosetta Stone. Inst for
Quick Start Guide for iomega Hard Drive is in 18 lang. Now have 1 TB external memory to do a daily
back-up.
New way of getting to bookmarks is a pain in the a--. IE still not working.Have switched to Firefox.
Take care. eddy
GoodMorning Argyle and others,
ReplyDeleteWow, I finished before noon! Rah Rah!
A very Tuesdayish puzzle today. Thanks Steven. I havent read your work yet, Argyle, but I'm sure it will be as great as ever. I wanted to get this in, since I got it done so early (for me, anyway).
I had my local P.C. wizard here for an hour and a half, too, so it's a bright optimistic day. We even got my avatar changed: me in 1947.
Just finished going through the family pix ~ maybe 1000 or so, so you may be seeing more oldies. I think I've got the picture-changing thing down at last.Not much to comment on. I got the theme after the fact, as usual. I loved the theme answers/clues.
Later, maybe.
Rah rah indeed. What a great photo!
ReplyDeleteHola Everyone, Haven't we all experienced those airline problems, inconveniences and invasions? Lost luggage is the worst. I've taken to putting pj's, a change of underwear, and an extra t-shirt in my carry on. The last two times we've flown, our luggage was lost. The second time it went on ahead of us while we stayed overnight in Philadelphia.
ReplyDeleteMy one hangup was the spelling of Reveille. I had to let the perps take over for that.
I thought that Skip church, in a way?/Elope and They may not be quiet on the set/Egos were the best clues today. However, Knavish isn't something that I use in my vacbulary everyday.
JD, what a lovely postcard to C.C. and the pictures of the Nenes gives a picture to the often used cw word Nene. Thank you.
Off to the dentist.
Bill G. - You come up with such interesting videos. Very intriguing. Of great interest to me because my niece and her husband have been doing economic missionary work in rural northeast India.
ReplyDeleteSo so puzzle. Misleading with no abrev. In the clue. Did not like 11 a clue. 41 down too. Liked 1a and 16 a.
ReplyDelete25d misleading
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, when an abbreviation is used so frequently in its abbreviated form that it has become part of the language, there is no need to clue it as an abbreviation. TMI is an excellent example. Misleading clues? Crosswords would really be boring if there were no misleading clues. We would be reduced to picking the proper synonym if the clues couldn't be misleading.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was an excellent puzzle, but everyone sees things differently.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteNicely done, Steven and Argyle.
Not a lot to add. I did have a Sam Adams Octoberfest while working the puzzle. Very tasty!
Love the vid, Bill, and the new avatar, Dodo.
I guess the most interesting symmetry today is BEDAZZLE and DISGRACE. Make of it what you will.
Cheers!
JzB
dodo:
ReplyDeleteLovely photo of you!
An enjoyable and fun puzzle
ReplyDeleteI liked the theme and thought it was a great concept! It's definitely something everyone can relate to.
ReplyDeleteJzB, I had the Sam Adams Oktoberfest at dinner tonight too. It is indeed tasty and smooth!
fermatprime, wow, that sounds scary, especially since you weren't able to go lock up the house yourself.
Annette: I am enjoying a Sam Adams Octoberfest even as I draft the note. I got a case for my husband's poker game, since he is the host this month, and saved a couple of bottled out for myself.
ReplyDeleteHahtool, cheers!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to learn about seasonal and other craft beer, i suggest BEER BLOG enjoy
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable and fun puzzle
ReplyDelete