Theme: Barefoot on the beach, or no flip "flops". No flops at all with the theme entries today! All four answers are perfectly grand definitions for "flip".
2A. Flip : BECOME EXCITED. You can flip out when you finish today's offering from Kevin and realize that it's also a pangram.
28A. Flip : COMEDIAN WILSON. Star of the Emmy award-winning "The Flip Wilson Show" which aired on NBC.
45A. Flip : DIVING MANEUVER. Try not to over-do your back-flip and turn it into a belly-flop.
54A. Flip : RESELL QUICKLY. Probably not a great idea to try flipping your house in the current market, at least not here in California.
Happy Friday, everyone. Steve here standing in for Lemonade and trying not to commit any gender-confusion sins in today's write-up. I found this nice and tricky; I needed a lot of crosses to make headway on the theme entries as well as on a few of the others. Some nice learning moments too. I enjoyed the "Jeopardy-style" cluing for the theme entries, I'm sure there's a correct crossword term for that, but I'll have to defer to the experts on that one.
Let's take a look at everything else:
Across:
1. Spiced tea : CHAI. The Indian spice cardamom flavors this drink, which is widely available in Starbucks. Starbucks, however, is not widely available in India - remarkably the country does not (yet) have a single outlet.
5. Nerdy guy in "Meatballs" : SPAZ. Jack Blum's character in the 1979 movie.
9. Center of Florida? : EPCOT. Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
14. Deep-tissue massage pioneer Ida : ROLF. I needed the crosses to discover this lady.
15. Half up front? : HEMI. Chrysler Motors trademarked the "Hemi" name, although other auto manufacturers also produce engines of a similar design. "SEMI" was my first thought here, until I found myself scratching my head at "SSIELDS"
16. Big wheel from Holland? : GOUDA. Food! The "other" Dutch cheese. I especially like the smoked variety.
17. City in 22-Down : AMES
18. Coast-to-coast hwy. : I-TEN. Just across the Hollywood Hills from me, this Interstate stretches from Santa Monica, CA to Jacksonville, FL
19. Barn nestling : OWLET
23. Write (down) : SET
24. Camera with interchangeable parts : SLR. You can swap out the lens on a Single-Lens Reflex camera.
25. "... if not cheaper" : OR LESS
32. Eats more of than is wise, with "on" : OD's. I'm completely unsure of how to punctuate a pluralized abbreviation - any suggestions?
33. Cut the crop : REAP. What a great clue!
34. Lettre recipient, perhaps : AMI. Your French friend will be happy to receive your missive.
35. Florida county renamed to include its largest city : DADE. Now Miami-Dade.
38. Travel, in a way : JET. Not necessarily my preferred mode of transport, but certainly my most frequent. Southwest Airlines to Oakland this morning.
39. Rapper-turned-actor : ICE-T
40. Egg opening? : OVI. Quick - give me an egg-opening word that isn't OVIDUCT.
41. Zen master's riddle : KOAN
43. Tobacco co. based in Winston-Salem : RJR. R.J.Reynolds. I recently stopped contributing to their revenues when I quit smoking, and not before time.
50. Chemical relative : ISOMER. Could one of our resident chemistry experts tell us the difference between an ISOMER and an ISOTOPE?
51. Pay stub abbr. : Y.T.D. DED was my first try here, my year-to-date deductions are depressing.
52. French article : DES
58. Ltr. accompaniers : ENCLS. You could enclose a SASE in your letter to your French friend "pour encouragez les auteurs" perhaps?
60. __ Honor : YOUR
61. Frost : HOAR. The beautiful formation of ice crystals like these:
2A. Flip : BECOME EXCITED. You can flip out when you finish today's offering from Kevin and realize that it's also a pangram.
28A. Flip : COMEDIAN WILSON. Star of the Emmy award-winning "The Flip Wilson Show" which aired on NBC.
45A. Flip : DIVING MANEUVER. Try not to over-do your back-flip and turn it into a belly-flop.
54A. Flip : RESELL QUICKLY. Probably not a great idea to try flipping your house in the current market, at least not here in California.
Happy Friday, everyone. Steve here standing in for Lemonade and trying not to commit any gender-confusion sins in today's write-up. I found this nice and tricky; I needed a lot of crosses to make headway on the theme entries as well as on a few of the others. Some nice learning moments too. I enjoyed the "Jeopardy-style" cluing for the theme entries, I'm sure there's a correct crossword term for that, but I'll have to defer to the experts on that one.
Let's take a look at everything else:
Across:
1. Spiced tea : CHAI. The Indian spice cardamom flavors this drink, which is widely available in Starbucks. Starbucks, however, is not widely available in India - remarkably the country does not (yet) have a single outlet.
5. Nerdy guy in "Meatballs" : SPAZ. Jack Blum's character in the 1979 movie.
9. Center of Florida? : EPCOT. Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
14. Deep-tissue massage pioneer Ida : ROLF. I needed the crosses to discover this lady.
15. Half up front? : HEMI. Chrysler Motors trademarked the "Hemi" name, although other auto manufacturers also produce engines of a similar design. "SEMI" was my first thought here, until I found myself scratching my head at "SSIELDS"
16. Big wheel from Holland? : GOUDA. Food! The "other" Dutch cheese. I especially like the smoked variety.
17. City in 22-Down : AMES
18. Coast-to-coast hwy. : I-TEN. Just across the Hollywood Hills from me, this Interstate stretches from Santa Monica, CA to Jacksonville, FL
19. Barn nestling : OWLET
23. Write (down) : SET
24. Camera with interchangeable parts : SLR. You can swap out the lens on a Single-Lens Reflex camera.
25. "... if not cheaper" : OR LESS
32. Eats more of than is wise, with "on" : OD's. I'm completely unsure of how to punctuate a pluralized abbreviation - any suggestions?
33. Cut the crop : REAP. What a great clue!
34. Lettre recipient, perhaps : AMI. Your French friend will be happy to receive your missive.
35. Florida county renamed to include its largest city : DADE. Now Miami-Dade.
38. Travel, in a way : JET. Not necessarily my preferred mode of transport, but certainly my most frequent. Southwest Airlines to Oakland this morning.
39. Rapper-turned-actor : ICE-T
40. Egg opening? : OVI. Quick - give me an egg-opening word that isn't OVIDUCT.
41. Zen master's riddle : KOAN
43. Tobacco co. based in Winston-Salem : RJR. R.J.Reynolds. I recently stopped contributing to their revenues when I quit smoking, and not before time.
50. Chemical relative : ISOMER. Could one of our resident chemistry experts tell us the difference between an ISOMER and an ISOTOPE?
51. Pay stub abbr. : Y.T.D. DED was my first try here, my year-to-date deductions are depressing.
52. French article : DES
58. Ltr. accompaniers : ENCLS. You could enclose a SASE in your letter to your French friend "pour encouragez les auteurs" perhaps?
60. __ Honor : YOUR
61. Frost : HOAR. The beautiful formation of ice crystals like these:
62. Good thing not to wear in a rainstorm : SUEDE. It probably beats wearing nothing at all in a rainstorm though.
63. "Bingo!" : I WIN
64. When Valjean is released from prison : ACT I. Our good friend Jean from Les Miserables.
65. Continue until : END AT
66. Hockey Hall of Famer __ Stewart : NELS. Robert Nelson "Old Poison" Stewart was probably inducted into the Hall of Fame for his awesome name alone.
67. Flightless bird : RHEA
Down:
1. Chesapeake Bay haul : CRABS. I dithered over this one, as CRAB is also plural. Now it's got me wondering which other nouns can either add an "S" or not for the plural form.
2. Shop alternative : HOME EC. Back in my UK schooldays we had "Woodwork" or "Domestic Science."
3. One of the Greek Furies : ALECTO. Needed all the crosses for this, I'm trying to figure out how to remember it for next time.
4. Conditional words : IF SO
5. Defense mechanisms : SHIELDS
6. He ruled jointly with Ivan V for nearly 14 years : PETER I
7. "Don't leave home without it" co. : AMEX. Diner's Club introduced the first credit card in 1952, American Express came along with their card six years later.
8. Sunscreen element : ZINC
9. Vacation for the self-employed? : EGO TRIP.
10. Secretary of state after Albright : POWELL. Colin served under George W. Bush.
11. Good street for playing : CUL-DE-SAC. I can vouch for this having lived on one of these dead-end streets as a kid, and as kids are wont to do, we sniggered when we learned that "cul" is a rather impolite French word for "bottom".
12. Inspired poetry : ODE
13. Body pic : TAT. "Tattoo" seems to be almost archaic now.
21. Teacher's grad deg. : M.S.Ed, the Master of Science in Education degree.
22. 17-Across's state : IOWA
26. Roughly : SOME
27. Distraught state : SNIT. Personally, I would be only mildly distraught if I was in a snit, for more extreme distraughtedness I've got much better words, but Rich wouldn't like them in his crosswords.
29. Duff Beer server : MOE. Homer Simpson's favorite brew poured by his favorite barkeep.
30. Concert venue : ARENA
31. Not gross : NET. Don't get me started on those year-to-date deductions again.
35. Diana's escort __ al-Fayed : DODI. The companion of the Princess of Wales in the latter years of her life.
36. National rival : AVIS
37. No longer together : DIVORCED. Just like me and the gross part of my paycheck that didn't make it into my net.
38. Bind : JAM
39. "Mr. Chicago" journalist Kupcinet : IRV. Very subtle "Mr." abbreviation clue here.
41. Israeli parliament : KNESSET
42. Storybook heavy : OGRE. Shrek seems to have taken the sting out of the good old-fashioned scare-the-bejabers-out-of-you fairy tale baddies.
43. Stock clerk's charge : RETURNS
44. Dench of "Iris" : JUDI. Dame of British theatre and film.
46. Leader with a shoestring budget? : IMELDA. First Lady (now Congresswoman) Marcos of the Philippines, reputed to own more than 2,500 pairs of shoes.
47. Cold remedy in LiquiCaps : NYQUIL
48. "Mayor" memoirist : ED KOCH, former Mayor of New York City.
49. Connect : RELATE
53. Arab League member : SYRIA
55. "__' Eyes": Eagles hit : LYIN. On my iPod for those maudlin moments.
56. Actor Rob : LOWE
57. Blacken : CHAR.
58. Journal ending : -ESE. I had to wait to decide between -ese and -ist.
59. Sister or mother : NUN. Lovely aha! clue to finish with.
That's all from me - have a wonderful weekend.
Steve
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteWent through this one pretty fast, despite a few unknowns. The PETER I / Ivan thing is new. KOAN is still a mystery.
I had forgotten we went from Mad. Albright directly to Colin POWELL, a man whose boss put him in an untenable position, IMHO.
The theme answers helped out, giving some hefty fill. AMES, IOWA was the hometown of Meredith Willson and the prototype of River City in The Music Man. But you already knew that.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteUnlike Dudley, I did not go through this one pretty fast at all. In fact, I struggled quite a bit.
The theme was enjoyable and did eventually help me a out a bit once I got into the swing of things.
Always wondered why deep massaging was referred to as ROLFing. Now I know!
Agree that "Cut the crop" was a beautiful clue.
Hesitated over SHIELD because I just couldn't accept that a SHIELD could be a "mechanism." My brain is just too literal early in the morning, and I kept thinking that a mechanism had to have moving parts.
Had OR SO instead of SOME at 26D, which messed me up for awhile. I have trouble seeing SOME and "roughly" as synonyms, but I'm sure they are.
I've heard people called SPAZ nearly all my life, but never saw "Meatballs" and had no idea about the character.
ALECTO was completely unknown and I had a trouble getting SET for the longest time.
Where's Lemonade today? With all the Florida references, this one was made for him.
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle. Knew Alecto due to my son's reading of the percy jackson series and Alecto Appears in a few of the books and is named as a fury atleast once. Had problem with 9A wanted to put the geographical center of florida not just a center in florida. steve a great write up and I hope all of you have a happy friday.
ReplyDeleteGood day folks,
ReplyDeleteWell, it's not such a good day for Hondo as it relates to Mr Christian's offering. I never could get a foothold. After reading Steve's write up along with Dudley's and Barry's comments, my incompetence seems to have risen to a new level. Without Mr G, my puzzle would be 85 to 90 percent blank.
I'll blame it all on an aching body thanks to a heavy dose of yard work the last two days. I had to take advantage of the lovely weather we experienced in CT. Time for an Aleve.
Enjoy your upcoming weekend.
Happy Friday, all!
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle today, but that's what we're supposed to get on Friday. Right?
The NW almost did me in. I was stuck on CLAMS for 1D. I had ASIS and ELSE for 4D before IFSO finally appeared. ALECTO was an unknown. And my SEMI turned to DEMI before HEMI showed up. That whole section of my newspaper is one inky blob this morning.
I got KOAN, but don't understand it. Anybody?
Enjoyed your write-up, Steve. How 'bout oviparous?
I could look it up, but I think a KOAN is a short question with no answer that you meditate on in order to achieve enlightenment or something. The classic example is "what is the sound of one hand clapping."
ReplyDeleteTurned out to go pretty quickly after a daunting display of unfilled squares following my first quick pass through the acrosses. I confidently entered JOT where SET belonged, but HOMEC set me right.
ReplyDeleteI took SHOP, of course, in 8th grade, since I was of the boy persuasion. We did have one uppity girl in shop that year -- the first, I'm sure. It was no big deal, the PTA and lawyers didn't get involved, and she did a damn fine job. She also improved the company immensely.
I REALLY don't like whatever they did to the site. Previewing a post results in what looks like a 10-character-wide, very long column which is largely useless.
The LAT Crossword Corner KOAN.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the sound of Barry G. slapping himself on the back?
You're too funny
DeleteDefinite DNF. Too many "never heard ofs", and not enough perps even for WAGS. The NW corner was OK except for ALETTO, I also got GOUDA, SLR, OR LESS, ODS, REAP, AMI, DADE, JET, KOAN (but had no idea why), YTD, YOUR, HOAR, END AT, LOWE, KNESSET, RHEA on the first run through, but then stopped short.
ReplyDeleteNone of the themes appeared for me, errors like OVA/OVI and LES/DES held up quite a bit. But the real killer were the names. Even Judi Dench, which I had to scrounge to dig from the depths of my failing memory, I spelled JUDY, and couldn't parse ICET at all.
Hondo, Barry and others, I'm with you on this one. I really struggled yesterday too, and by the time I got it done it wasn't even worth checking comments here.
Tough...had to chew on this awhile before I could get it down. One of those where my first thought was "I'll never get this" to one of "well, maybe I can" to "PHEW"!!!!
ReplyDeleteMornin' to all,
ReplyDeleteTypical Friday puzzle for me. Finally got it without Mr. G, but had a lot of red letters for a while. Lots of head scratching!
Maybe some puzzlers (anon) should contemplate "Complete Silence" when they find the answer to KOAN...according to Mr. G!
are you kidding me with 2 down, give me a break
ReplyDeleteDNF, way too many unkowns, misdirects, even the occasional gimme did not inspire me. Just too freakin' hard.
ReplyDeleteOviferous
Rhea looks like an Emu to me.
Deadend?
Koan?
Good morning everyone:
ReplyDeleteThis was a toughie but perseverance paid off. Kudos to Mr. C for a clever puzzle and to Steve for a great write-up.
Overall, a worthy Friday outing.
Is it just me or is anyone else taken aback that it's time to change our clocks this weekend? It just seems sooooooo early. Not that I'm complaining, mind you !
Happy thoughts everyone?
Kevin. I enjoyed your puzzle. Great write up, Steve. I liked the title you supplied. Having AZ I wagged SPAZ. I got KOAN all from perps. Otherwise, there were no real unknowns. Just right for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteBarry G. thanks for the KOAN info.
Southern Belle @ 8:50. Right on!
I got hung up on CLAMS for a while. Duh. I know that Baltimore is famous for its CRABS. I went to college near Baltimore and I did my internship in the city. On Sundays I had split time, so I had from 1:30 to 5:30 off. Rather than take the long trek back to school on the bus and then have to return to the city, I stayed in the city and had dinner. I always chose Crab Imperial or Baltimore crab cakes. YUMM!!
Steve: Great job 'Pinch-hitting' for Lemon.
ReplyDeleteUgh, what a slog. I had "on-line" for 'Shop alternative' and just refused to come off it for wwaaaayyy too long.
The HOME-EC "V-8 can-head-slap" left me dizzy.
Liked how IMELDA crossed her 'Blue-SUEDE' shoes.
Thanks for the info of her being a Congress-woman.
(I thought she died a while ago).
Irish Miss: I already sprang ahead.
Don't like losing an hour of my weekend.
But I agree, they should wait until it's "Actually Spring"
(March 21st) before making us spring.
Ron Worden: How's the fitting. (Dang, 2 OT loses last night).
Cheers to all at Sunset!
Good morning. A very difficult effort for me. Lot's to like, not much to not like and a few real gems. The clue for Imelda was downright diabolical, but very funny. The self referential Ames,Iowa pair wasn't my favorite, but is entirely forgivable.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to fall into the clam/crab trap, but didn't let it happen. I had lunch with an associate a few months back. She'd just returned from a Baltimore trip, and I asked if she'd had crab. "I was there for 3 days and I only had crab 6 times. Couldn't find any place that served crab for breakfast....but I tried."
This one felt quite breezy there was fill that I didn't know like ALECTO, KOAN, IRV, or NELS but the crosses were doable and made for minimal resistance. My only spot that I had to fix was where I put BEYOND for BECOME.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really hard, but looking at it I only had two write-overs; ZINC over "talc" and RELATE over "meet up".
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I get how ROUGHLY translates to "some" though. Is it the sense of "approximately" or "of an unfinished form"?
Tuttle,
ReplyDeleteMaybe "roughly" works like "to some extent", or "some twenty people were there".
Pacoluna,
Having taught school here for a number of years, I can affirm that HOME EC and SHOP are usually scheduled opposite each other and are hence alternative choices in a student's schedule.
I wonder how many of her shoes actually had shoestrings?
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon to all and happy Friday. Thanks Steve for the insights. Wow I thought this was a tough puzzle. tricky cluing and abbreviations. I dont think i've ever seen Nyquil in a puzzle. They still have to work on the part that goes over the top part of my calf. So I have to go back again next week. Hopefully 3'd times a charm and thanks for asking Tinman. I thoght the new Goalie played well even though they only got 1 point. Have a great weekend to all. RJW.
ReplyDeleteHi All ~~
ReplyDeleteWhew ... this was a struggle, but I enjoyed it. I really had to hop around to fill things in piece by piece ... not much continuity. I finally had to give in to Google - I just could not get the 'K' at the crossing of KOAN and KNESSET.
Other last fills were SUEDE and RESELL. Lots of unknowns/learning moments today, but perps took care of most.
I really liked the clues for NUN and IMELDA.
Thanks for a great write-up, Steve ... lots of good info!
I hope Lemonade is OK.
Enjoy the day!
Good morning Steve and everybody.
ReplyDeleteTough one today but it gradually came together. AMES, IOWA, and ALECTO were WAGS. Got the theme acrosses in due course. Particularly liked RESELL QUICKLY. Thought the clueing for IMELDA and GOUDA were quite clever.
DES is clued as a French article. My LaRousse and my high school French say it it is a combination of de and les, in other words a preposition and an article. Somewhat like the German zum as in "Zum Wilden Hirsch". Don't really know if you can call it an article per se.
Well, I did better than I thought I would at first, by taking a break with a Sudoku in between rounds. Still ended up DNF because I got stuck on Rte 1 instead of I TEN. I was sure that the Sunscreen element had to be "aloe" because according to our crossword puzzles, aloe is contained in practically every product on the planet. And I goofed on the education degree by putting M.A. Ed. instead of M.S. Ed--having taught a few of those in Humanities in my day. And, hey, what do I know about cameras with interchangeable parts? I'm lucky I can use a Canon Power Shot. But I was proud of myself for remembering Imelda Marcos and all her shoes!
ReplyDeleteStill, a fun Friday puzzle, Kevin. And Steve, the photo of the HOAR frost on the Queen Anne's lace is magical.
Is anyone watching the HBO series "Luck" about horseracing--starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte? It got poor reviews when it started but we're finding it totally absorbing with terrific acting, fascinating characters, and gorgeous photography.
ISOMERS: molecules with the same chemical formula (same number and kind of atoms) but different arrangements in space
ReplyDeleteISOTOPES: atoms of the same element (same number of protons) but different masses (different numbers of neutrons)
Thank you all for being here.
Pretty much what Kazie said. Took quite a while and lots of lookups, but I finally got all but one letter- the "K" in KOAN. Real toughie today, but as usual, you get a word or two, put in a WAG, and eventually, it (sorta) comes together. Well, all but one letter.
ReplyDeleteWEES. I got a late start due to a rush project at work this morning, so I'm concurring with what everybody else said.
ReplyDeleteI drink hot tea most days, but don't like CHAI.
I really liked the EPCOT clue - very clever.
I never heard of IMELDA and her shoes. I wonder if any of them were blue SUEDE?
Similar to Tinbeni @ 9:44, I tried HOME PC for 2D (shop alternative). I'd rather shop on my PC than in shop class! I took shop in Jr. High and did terribly. All those electric saws made me nervous.
Hi Y'all,
ReplyDeleteWhat everybody said! Thanks, Steve! I had CHAI so went down with ClAmS and "I may". Couldn't get 2D or 3D and AMES was screwed up although I knew it. I ended up with ME EXCITED so wondered about "gets" for 20D which made things worse.
Learning moment: I TEN. Didn't know the interstate numbers went that low despite being an avid map peruser. I've been on I40 through I90.
I tried to take shop and was refused nicely by the teacher who thought I would distract the boys and be a safety hazard! Probably right. I sure needed the skills though when I was remodeling all those years.
RW Sorry to hear getting your new leg was postponed yet again. The third time will be the charm, I'm sure. I'm thinking happy thoughts for you.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to DST. I like having light in the early evening.
Haven't read all comments but Syria is not a member of the arab league (53d). It was suspended 16 November 2011. So that is why I started with Libya. Took me awhile cause I thought it was a trick question, being a Friday. Please stay current!
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody remember the Baseball Furies from the movie “The Warriors”?
ReplyDeleteI had trouble with the CWP because I was confusing ROLFing with BURKing
Hello, passionate puzzlers. Good to see you, Steve, and thanks for a great job subbing.
ReplyDeleteAh, a puzzle with lots of spice! Thank you, Kevin.
I love CHAI tea though hand up for CLAM before CRABS. This was no sashay but a struggle. The eastern corner filled quickly and nicely. But got harder as it went on. Had to research ALECTO. Too long since I studied mythology.
ICET is excellent in Law and Order.
I gasped at KOAN as it has been absent for so long after being such a staple in crosswords.
Loved the clues for IMELDA and GOUDA.
A wonderful workout today.
I hope you have something to BECOME EXCITED about today, everyone!
Good morning Steve, C.C. et al,
ReplyDeleteSteve, excellent write up. Beautiful ice crystals.Hope you are not near that CVS in Oakland at the moment!
Next time we may see the other furies: Dirae or Erinyes..or maybe the sisters Megaera or Tisiphone, not easily remembered!
This was an easier than usual struggle for me, but loved so many of the clues even if I had trouble with most. Tricky areas for me:
les for des
jot for set
clams for crabs
tie for jam
on my for Your Honor (capital H)
Didn't care for end at.
Thanks Barry for explaining koan.
Have enjoyed living on a cul-de-sac.It used to be no one came onto our court, but times have changed, and we can no longer draw elaborate chalk cities out there.Big Wheels have to be on the sidewalk now.
SLR..love my Nikon D40.Still trying to take decent night pictures of the moon.Want to get it right by the 12th,Venus/moon/Jupiter spectacle.
Ron,it should be perfect next week!
eddy, did you let Jill watch?
Good morning Steve, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteFunny not to see lemonade in his usual Friday seat, but he will be back next week, same time, same station!
Great write-up, Steve – thanks for pinch hitting! I really enjoyed this theme. The type you were asking about is called a “Definition” theme. That is when the constructor uses “Jeopardy” type answers for the theme fill, with the clue being either a pun’ny or same-word clue. In this case, I thought it was very elegant that he found four entirely different meanings of the word “Flip”. I had the first one filled in, and was on the same wavelength for #2, before I finally sussed FLIP WILSON. Great stuff!
Anon @ 12:02, sometimes puzzles are submitted and accepted months in advance of their publication. When this one was constructed, it is quite probable that Syria actually was a member of the Arab League.
Hi gang -
ReplyDeleteGood job, Steve.
Real slog today. I like the theme, but this puzzle is replete with things I don't like.
Missed END AT. Drat!
Didn't know I-10 went to CA, or that IMELDA went to congress.
Like seeing CUL-DE-SAC.
Not much time today, so Hi and goodby.
IMBO. Happy weekend.
Cheers!
JzB
Hi, this is Kevin, I constructed today's puzzle. Thanks for all of your comments. I really enjoyed reading them. They're extremely useful.
ReplyDeleteMany of the more clever clues were from the editor (Rich), and vast improvements over the original clues that I sent to him, in my opinion.
I originally intended this as a Wednesday or Thursday puzzle, but Rich's edits made it work for a Friday.
I made one mistake solving my own puzzle this morning, so that shows you how braindead I am before I've had my coffee.
I struggled with whether to put ALECTO at 3-Down. I could have used EXACTO and the rest of the fill would have been nice. STUCCO or AFLCIO would definitely have given me ugly or boring fill in that corner.
I didn't originally think KOAN was that obscure, but maybe it is.
Thanks to those of you who noticed the pangram. I definitely put every letter in there at least once if at all possible. After all, how would you feel if you were a J, Q, X, or Z and you got left out? :-)
Later. - KevinC
DNF sounds like you didn't even try, can somebody pls come up with an abbr. for "wore out the solve button" (wotsb), or "RLB" (red letter blues), or how about "26 skidoo" (tried every letter)
ReplyDeletemaybe i should just say "CRAP"
(crossword really a pain)
oh well...
Kevin, thank you for stopping by and enlightening us on your puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI guess KOAN is no longer as well familiar as it once was. The only reason I know it at all is because of crosswords.
Good morning and thanks Steve. I always enjoy YOUR summaries.
ReplyDeleteIt took forever for me to get started today. I made two across passes and two down passes before I was able to start to make SOME progress. I ended with a blank square at the cross of KOAN and KNESSET. I was playing Words With Friends on my phone at the same time and had just filled in SUEDE for my turn. Weird.
CRAB was a gimme. As a kid I went CRABbing in the Chesapeake. Had PABA before ZINC and KIWI before RHEA. Spelled NYQUIL with an E. I once took NYQUIL. It gave me crazy nightmares.
HOME EC memory - making tuna noodle casserole with Campbell's cream of something soup and cornflakes on top.
Forgot to say I loved the Imelda clue.
ReplyDeleteThe I TEN passes along the southern border of my town. It's a horrible freeway with potholes and a plethora of trucks.
Thanks for the solid Friday puzzle, and for checking in, Mr. Christian.
ReplyDeleteLoved the home ec clue. Alecto, Koan, Rolf, & Knesset were unknown.
I don't think I-10 is accurate because I don't think it reaches the Atlantic. Unless we're going to count West coast and North coast, but I can't sign-off on that.
Hi everybody. Nothing else to add that hasn't been said twice before. Thanks Steve and Kevin.
ReplyDeleteI almost never worry about a DNF or the Red Letter Blues. If it's Friday or Saturday, I turn on red letters when I get completely stuck and am perfectly satisfied finishing that way. I much prefer finished with a little help than not finishing.
Regarding Steve's question about whether to put an apostrophe in ODs/OD's, my rule is to never use an apostrophe for a plural unless things look confusing without it. If I wanted to say something like, "There sure were a lot of A's in that puzzle", I think it would looks odd to say, "There sure were a lot of As in that puzzle" so I would use the apostrophe. Otherwise, I would just add an S.
I am going out to lunch with a college friend at one of my favorite local restaurants. It's the one where I usually get their delicious crab melt sandwich. I would like to try something different but I hate to miss my favorite. What to do?
I would like to have been a little bird listening to whatever the California Coven has to say about the rest of us. Come on, you guys can share a little gossip with us, can't you?
Speaking about little birds, the baby hummingbirds have both flown the coop. Their abandoned nest looks so solid and beautifully built. It seems to be lined with down, probably plucked from the parent's breast feathers.
Never put both feet in your mouth because it leaves you without a leg to stand on.
Not so bad for a Friday, but I'm not quick like a flip.
ReplyDeleteJD. Last night was a good example
ReplyDeleteof why she is permanently banned
from watching. Every time the Sharks would get ahead and she would peek, Dallas would tie the score. Finally they lost the SO.
However, she will be gone for most of the month. Three days in Sacro,
five days in DC then a side trip to Lancaster,PA.
I'll be able to play the TV loud enough to hear it.
eddy
CED@12:57 -- I guess I'm a purist. I'll put in a WAG, but I won't look anything up. I solve the whole thing in the newspaper, and then come here to check my results. If my grid has an error, that constitutes a DNF so far as I'm concerned. I try really hard to avoid that, but it still happens now and then.
ReplyDeleteDudley@5:42 -- Ames, Iowa is also home to Iowa State University. I only know that because the Cedar Rapids radio station I worked at carried the Cyclone football games.
Kevin Christian@12:55 -- Thanks for dropping by. It's always nice to get the constructor's point of view.
anon@1:18
ReplyDeleteAccording to my AAA atlas the I-ten ends in Jacksonville, Fla which is right on the Atlantic coast. And I know for a fact that it stretches to the edge of the California coast just a few hundred feet from the beach.
Kevin Christian @ 12:55 pm: You know it's a doozy when even the constructor makes an oops on the solve! Thanks for the Friday challenge!
ReplyDeleteCrazyCat, thanks for the memory about making tuna casserole in home ec. We did too, but our topping was crushed potato chips and I'm pretty sure the soup was cream of mushroom. Loved that stuff, but haven't made it in years. With a freezer full of home-raised choice beef, my husband didn't tolerate buying tuna. Now I wouldn't want the salt on the chips.
ReplyDeleteMari: Loved that movie. Had to look up this clip.
ReplyDeleteWould have bet money that they were longneck bottles though. I remember drinking those little 8 oz(i think) bottles. Two swigs and it was gone.
Kevin, it's always wonderful to hear from the constructor! I assume that if you put EXACTO at 3D, you would change 4D to TYPO? I always tweak the grid after I have finished filling it in, so it is interesting to hear your alternate possibility.
ReplyDeleteWith BECO at 20A and CO at 28A, it locks that part of the grid, but I think you picked some fine fill for that area. Great job!!
See-een!
ReplyDeleteCome out and pla-ay!
I just got back from lunch. My friend and I sat outside in about 75-degree weather with bright blue skies. The food was excellent as usual. I'm getting spoiled and fatter.
ReplyDeleteNow it's almost time for a short bike ride and a macchiato.
What's another word for 'thesaurus'?
BillG: Maybe This? :-)
ReplyDeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful day here!
Am still slogging through taxes. Much more to go. So didn't feel guilty about googling up ALECTO. (Got caught in Clams-CRABS trap.)
I daylight savings times coming to CA too this weekend?
Ron--hoping that things work out the next time around!
Kevin: fun puzzle! Steve: great, thorough write up as usual! You are one smart cookie!
Bye for now!
67A-Flightless bird-Kiwi incorrect
ReplyDeleteJust in the door after 2 days at Boys State BB championships in Lincoln and am writing this before going out the door to the Y. I had lots of time between games to work this wonderful Kevin Christian puzzle and spent most of that time on the bottom. What a relief to finally get NYQUIL at a Runza Restaurant!
ReplyDeleteI'll read all of you later!
It took me some 50 minutes to do today's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about waiting for spring (3/21) to go on DST reminds me of an interesting factoid: Spring will begin on March 20th for most of this century. It's early since 2000 was a leap-year, using a rule that comes into play only once every 400 years (leap years are years that are divisible by 4, unless they are divisible by 100 and not by 400). So sticking that extra day into 2000 means spring begins on the early side. As 2400 approaches, it will begin on the late side and we'll stick in an extra leap day to get back on track.
Remind me in 2399 to add that extra leap day. I will have forgotten to by then.
ReplyDeleteLOL GREG
ReplyDeleteHello everybody. I could not finish this puzzle without looking up "Meatballs" and "Ivan V".
ReplyDeleteWanted IST or ISM for Journal ending. Never would have thought of ESE, so it required the perps, which themselves were not easy, what with that pesky ENCLS.
Had EGYPT before changing it to SYRIA.
Wanted LORID for "Center of Florida".
Fiddled with UNE and LES for "French article" and frowned at DES when it appeared. I guess it is technically an article, even though it means "of the" which is more like a prepositional phrase. In fact, if it were singular it would/could be DE LA (or DU).
Happy Friday and best wishes to you all.
This was a rough go today. Was a DNF for me, but I agree with Bill G. Much better to finish with red letters than to give up entirely. That is how we learn. Had problems with NW and SW corners. Did not know KOAN or KNESSET. Got Flip Wilson, but was trying for his first name (and/or middle) rather than Comedian. Had forgotten all about R.J. Reynolds now that cigarettes are no longer advertised on TV.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have noticed is how much more falls when the puzzles are done on the computer instead of from the paper. Don't really know why this is - perhaps there is more dimensionality (is that a word?) on the computer as opposed to the newspaper.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Hola Everyone,
ReplyDeleteA DNF for me today. With a number of Google lookups I had about 80% of the answers, but I finally gave up and came here for Steve's excellent writeup to fill in he rest.
This was a toughie, and Kazie said just about what I was going to say. Thanks, Kazie.
Friday's are usually tough for me, but I always have learning moments to make the exercise worthwhile.
Bill G. Sorry, but we wouldn't pass on any gossip. That would be wrong. We never have anything but nice things to say about the blog. It is one the favorite things in our lives.
Jayce: you are too funny! I love your take on the center of Florida!
ReplyDeleteRe: Kevin Christian@12:55
ReplyDelete(it figures the Constructor would post while i was typing my rant.) Kevin, please don't take me seriously, i am just having a bad day...
Desper-otto@2:00
i hear you, everyone does their puzzle in their own way. I just ran out of time and was forced to use that dreaded "solve" button. I should have just saved the puzzle for tomorrow. Still, my favorite Abbr. is Jayce's "FIW."
Jayce, ya got me,
i searched the dictionary for "Lorid" without success, and was halfway thru a Google search when it dawned on me why i could not find anything. You were right, lorid is the center of Florida!
Jayce, Dogonnit now some fun Friday puzzle maker will take your hint and give us lorid and I won't figure it out.
ReplyDeleteQuestion about clues! What does it mean when a clue has an ellipses? Example being:
ReplyDelete25. "... if not cheaper" : OR LESS
A rookie crossword solver told me what he thought it meant at work today and the girl I sit next to who crosswords on my level gave me the same "whaaaat?" look I have her.
I never really thought about it so I really don't know if he was wrong or not. The answers I get for clues with elipses usually end up working out at some point so I never pay too much attention.
Any help would be great!
I think it is just an indicator that the phrase is usually found in a sentence and could be replaced by the answer. The missing words are not important.
ReplyDeleteMaybe.
Good afternoon, folks (on Saturday). Thank you, Kevin, for a good but tough Friday puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for reviewing.
ReplyDeleteI finished late last night. I was so tired I went to bed. This morning started on the Saturday puzzle and got it done and am now replying to Friday's puzzle.
Most of it fell together easily.
Got stuck on HOME EC, ROLF, CHAI, and ALECTO. I had CAT instead of TAT for 13D. was thinking of CAT SCAN. EPCOT straightened that out.
Did not know KOAN. Perps had to work.
ED KOCH at 48D took me a while.
Other than those it fell together quite easily.
See you on Sunday, since this is now Saturday.
Abejo
@Anon 9:13 - hopefully not too late to posit an answer to your question.
ReplyDeleteThe ellipses indicate missing words, as Argyle says, the key thing is that those missing words are not the answer the constructor is looking for, those would be represented by underlines. The missing words could be included, but would make the clue lengthy and wouldn't add anything to the clarity.