Theme: Subtext - The initialism of each four common phrases spans across another four two-word common phrase.
23A. Its abbreviation is hidden in 61-Across : LAUGHING OUT LOUD (LOL)
61A. Flight school hurdle : SOLO LANDING
73A. Its abbreviation is hidden in 36-Across : IN MY OPINION (IMO)
36A. 1993 literature Nobelist : TONI MORRISON. She called Clinton "our first Black president".
116A. Its abbreviation is hidden in 97-Across : THANKS IN ADVANCE (TIA)
97A. Like opposers of the Roe v. Wade decision : ANTI-ABORTION
46D. Its abbreviation is hidden in 17-Down : TALK TO YOU LATER (TTYL)
17D. They're less than grand : PETTY LARCENIES. I like this one a lot. So unexpected, all consonants.
I think those letters are initialism, to be exact. Read here for a succinct summary of Acronym, Initialism and Abbreviations. NATO, Scuba are acronyms. They're pronounced as one word. TTYL or IMO, on the other hand, is initialism and pronounced letter by letter.
Neat concept. All common in text-speak. Ambitious grid, with low word count and low black square count. Look at those stacked long edge entries. No picnic. It's always challenging to fill when there are 3 rather than 4 black square groups poking into the grid (called Fingers in cruciverb language). Hence a few compromise here and here.
This might be Leonard Williams' first LA Times puzzle. If so, congratulations!
Across:
1. Rite using water : BAPTISM. Total 21 7-letter entries in this grid.
8. Leaves in water : TEA BAGS. Always loose leaves for me. You, Jayce?
15. Subject : TOPIC
20. Botanical bristles : ARISTAE. Plural of arista. And 31D. Roman marketplaces : FORA. Plural for forum. And 52D. Polar lights : AURORAE. I use S-ending for all.
21. Without being expressed in words : TACITLY
22. Elysiums : EDENS. Castles for a certain long-leg lover.
25. Dodge SUV model : NITRO. Part of TNT also.
26. Pays attention, informally : LISTENS UP
27. Cop, in Cannes : FLIC. You all know this?
28. Swiss district : CANTON. Also the historical name for current Guangzhou, where I had lots of fun for 6 years.
29. Sale warning : AS IS
30. Enjoy a salon, maybe : TAN
31. Adversary : FOE
32. Khloé Kardashian __ : ODOM. She'll be tweeting her presence in a crossword.
34. Long-haired bovine : YAK
35. Agnus __ : DEI. And 63. Gilberto's god : DIOS. Spanish. 105D Reason-based faith : DEISM. Same root, right? Shouldn't be in the same grid.
39. Bisset co-star in "The Mephisto Waltz" : ALDA (Alan). Not familiar with the film.
40. Conger, e.g. : EEL
41. Rocky peak : TOR
42. Yoko Ono genre : NEO-DADA. Also new to me. Absurd!
44. 1945 conference site : POTSDAM. 15 miles southwest of Berlin, see this map.
48. Elemental : BASIC
51. Fish with sucker-like organs : REMORAS. They suck on sharks. Why not? Free ride.
54. Word of sorrow : ALAS
55. Pacific island nation : FIJI
57. Here, to José : ACA
58. Slip in a pool parlor : MISCUE
59. Chronicle anew : RE-LOG
65. West end : ERN. Western.
66. Sound of disapproval : TSK
67. Bailiff's instruction : RISE
69. Nonspecific ordinal : NTH
70. __ doing: thereby : IN SO
71. Japanese drama : NOH. Literally "talent" or "ability".
72. Addams family cousin : ITT
76. Hubert's successor : SPIRO (Agnew). Hubert Humphrey. From Minnesota.
78. Water or wind, e.g. : ERODER. And 11D. One working on charges : BILLER. Also 103. Comic book artists : INKERS. I'm sure the constructor would have changed the first two into ERODED or BILLED if he had an option.
80. Large load : TON
81. Tiny time fraction: Abbr. : NSEC
83. Scorch : SEAR
84. Repeat : SAY OVER
86. Fencing supplies : EPEES
88. Antarctic waters : ROSS SEA. Happy Feet.
90. Good hole cards in Texas Hold 'em : ONE PAIR. OK, I trust you. Not a poker player.
92. Sporty coupes : GTS
94. Was the right size : FIT
95. Hera's spouse : ZEUS
101. CBS forensic drama : CSI
104. Rose of rock : AXL
105. Cutting remarks : DIGS.
106. More, in Monterrey : MAS. "No mas!"
107. Prof's address ending : EDU
108. H.S. VIP : PRIN. Alright, Principle. (Correction: It's Principal. Thanks, D-Otto.)
109. Attend to, in a way, as a tiny tot : DIAPER
111. Son of Adam : ABEL
113. Large-venue music genre : ARENA ROCK. Like which band?
115. Emperor crowned in 962 : OTTO I. First Holy Roman emperor. Hi there D-Otto!
118. Stinks : REEKS
119. Reason for a siren : AIR RAID
120. More minuscule : TEENIER
121. Relevant, to a lawyer : AD REM. This reminds me of Lemonade's Milli-helen in measuring a girl's beauty. Helen had a face that "launched a thousand ships". What do you think of Gong Li's Milli-helen number?
122. Bizarre : STRANGE.
123. Gofer's list : ERRANDS
Down:
1. Love song : BALLAD.
2. Ask for __: request more pay : A RAISE. Very rarely do we see a 6-letter partial in LAT.
3. Only reigning pope to write an autobiography : PIUS II. No clue. How come no other pope followed him then? Must be a bad idea.
4. Some Air Force NCOs : T-SGTs. Technical Sergeants.
5. Spillane's "__ Jury" : I THE
6. College founded by Norwegian immigrants : SAINT OLAF. Here in Minnesota.
7. Smart one : MENSAN. Hey, the one I know is a Dummy.
8. Sporty car roof : T-TOP
9. __ Claire, Wisconsin : EAU
10. Represent : ACT FOR
12. French possessive : A TOI. Give me this, je suis A TOI!
13. Natural sugar : GLUCOSE
14. Barrett of Pink Floyd : SYD
15. Midmorning hr. : TEN AM
16. Hopkins's "Thor" role : ODIN
18. Encroachment : INROAD
19. Hall of Fame fullback Larry : CSONKA. I can never remember this name.
24. "Give 'er some gas!" : GUN IT
28. Censures : CONDEMNS
33. Means of access : DOOR
36. Newsman Koppel : TED
37. Company with a Pegasus trademark : MOBIL. And 40. Standard Oil name : ESSO.
38. Quechua speaker : INCAN
39. Bustling times : ADOS
43. Pals : AMIGOS
44. Paints the town red : PARTIES
45. Fake fat : OLESTRA
47. Bette's "Divine" nickname : MISS M
49. Krispy cracker : SALTINE
50. Corporate raider Carl : ICAHN. Darn it, I realized I had googled him before.
53. Lisbon lady : SENHORA
56. Milne's Roo, e.g. : JOEY
60. "For pleasures past I do not __ ...": Byron : GRIEVE
62. "Hop __": Seuss work : ON POP
64. Toward the center : INNER
68. Well maintained : IN REPAIR. Sounds like broken, no?
74. Cheri of "SNL" : OTERI
75. Piano, e.g.: Abbr. : INSTR. OK, Instrument.
77. Sibilant attention-getter : PSST
79. Pulls on : DONS
82. Jobs at Apple, say : CO-FOUNDER. Steve Jobs.
85. __ a bell: was familiar : RANG
87. They may be bruised : EGOS
89. Envy, for one : SIN
91. Baseball announcer's cry : IT'S A HIT. Ready for some baseball, LaLaLinda?
93. Unrelenting : STERN
95. "Butterfly" co-star who won the 1982 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress : ZADORA (Pia). Did not know the Razzie Award trivia. I bet Buckeye does.
96. Left the building : EXITED
98. Supreme Egyptian deity : AMEN RA. Quite a few different spellings. AMON RA as well.
99. Like Serbs or Croats : BALKAN
100. Form concepts : IDEATE. Hey, it's a real word.
101. "The Citadel" author A.J. __ : CRONIN
102. Prompted to attack, with "on" : SICCED
108. One of yoga's five vital forces : PRANA. Another learning moment.
110. Go slowly (along) : POKE
112. 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate : BARR (Bob). Where was I? Did not recall this name at all.
113. Hill helper : AIDE. Capitol Hill.
114. Testify : AVER
116. Sometime classroom leaders, briefly : TAs
117. Milano Mr. : SIG. Short for signore.
Answer grid.
C.C.
23A. Its abbreviation is hidden in 61-Across : LAUGHING OUT LOUD (LOL)
61A. Flight school hurdle : SOLO LANDING
73A. Its abbreviation is hidden in 36-Across : IN MY OPINION (IMO)
36A. 1993 literature Nobelist : TONI MORRISON. She called Clinton "our first Black president".
116A. Its abbreviation is hidden in 97-Across : THANKS IN ADVANCE (TIA)
97A. Like opposers of the Roe v. Wade decision : ANTI-ABORTION
46D. Its abbreviation is hidden in 17-Down : TALK TO YOU LATER (TTYL)
17D. They're less than grand : PETTY LARCENIES. I like this one a lot. So unexpected, all consonants.
I think those letters are initialism, to be exact. Read here for a succinct summary of Acronym, Initialism and Abbreviations. NATO, Scuba are acronyms. They're pronounced as one word. TTYL or IMO, on the other hand, is initialism and pronounced letter by letter.
Neat concept. All common in text-speak. Ambitious grid, with low word count and low black square count. Look at those stacked long edge entries. No picnic. It's always challenging to fill when there are 3 rather than 4 black square groups poking into the grid (called Fingers in cruciverb language). Hence a few compromise here and here.
This might be Leonard Williams' first LA Times puzzle. If so, congratulations!
Across:
1. Rite using water : BAPTISM. Total 21 7-letter entries in this grid.
8. Leaves in water : TEA BAGS. Always loose leaves for me. You, Jayce?
15. Subject : TOPIC
20. Botanical bristles : ARISTAE. Plural of arista. And 31D. Roman marketplaces : FORA. Plural for forum. And 52D. Polar lights : AURORAE. I use S-ending for all.
21. Without being expressed in words : TACITLY
22. Elysiums : EDENS. Castles for a certain long-leg lover.
25. Dodge SUV model : NITRO. Part of TNT also.
26. Pays attention, informally : LISTENS UP
27. Cop, in Cannes : FLIC. You all know this?
28. Swiss district : CANTON. Also the historical name for current Guangzhou, where I had lots of fun for 6 years.
29. Sale warning : AS IS
30. Enjoy a salon, maybe : TAN
31. Adversary : FOE
32. Khloé Kardashian __ : ODOM. She'll be tweeting her presence in a crossword.
34. Long-haired bovine : YAK
35. Agnus __ : DEI. And 63. Gilberto's god : DIOS. Spanish. 105D Reason-based faith : DEISM. Same root, right? Shouldn't be in the same grid.
39. Bisset co-star in "The Mephisto Waltz" : ALDA (Alan). Not familiar with the film.
40. Conger, e.g. : EEL
41. Rocky peak : TOR
42. Yoko Ono genre : NEO-DADA. Also new to me. Absurd!
44. 1945 conference site : POTSDAM. 15 miles southwest of Berlin, see this map.
48. Elemental : BASIC
51. Fish with sucker-like organs : REMORAS. They suck on sharks. Why not? Free ride.
54. Word of sorrow : ALAS
55. Pacific island nation : FIJI
57. Here, to José : ACA
58. Slip in a pool parlor : MISCUE
59. Chronicle anew : RE-LOG
65. West end : ERN. Western.
66. Sound of disapproval : TSK
67. Bailiff's instruction : RISE
69. Nonspecific ordinal : NTH
70. __ doing: thereby : IN SO
71. Japanese drama : NOH. Literally "talent" or "ability".
72. Addams family cousin : ITT
76. Hubert's successor : SPIRO (Agnew). Hubert Humphrey. From Minnesota.
78. Water or wind, e.g. : ERODER. And 11D. One working on charges : BILLER. Also 103. Comic book artists : INKERS. I'm sure the constructor would have changed the first two into ERODED or BILLED if he had an option.
80. Large load : TON
81. Tiny time fraction: Abbr. : NSEC
83. Scorch : SEAR
84. Repeat : SAY OVER
86. Fencing supplies : EPEES
88. Antarctic waters : ROSS SEA. Happy Feet.
90. Good hole cards in Texas Hold 'em : ONE PAIR. OK, I trust you. Not a poker player.
92. Sporty coupes : GTS
94. Was the right size : FIT
95. Hera's spouse : ZEUS
101. CBS forensic drama : CSI
104. Rose of rock : AXL
105. Cutting remarks : DIGS.
106. More, in Monterrey : MAS. "No mas!"
107. Prof's address ending : EDU
108. H.S. VIP : PRIN. Alright, Principle. (Correction: It's Principal. Thanks, D-Otto.)
109. Attend to, in a way, as a tiny tot : DIAPER
111. Son of Adam : ABEL
113. Large-venue music genre : ARENA ROCK. Like which band?
115. Emperor crowned in 962 : OTTO I. First Holy Roman emperor. Hi there D-Otto!
118. Stinks : REEKS
119. Reason for a siren : AIR RAID
120. More minuscule : TEENIER
121. Relevant, to a lawyer : AD REM. This reminds me of Lemonade's Milli-helen in measuring a girl's beauty. Helen had a face that "launched a thousand ships". What do you think of Gong Li's Milli-helen number?
122. Bizarre : STRANGE.
123. Gofer's list : ERRANDS
Down:
1. Love song : BALLAD.
2. Ask for __: request more pay : A RAISE. Very rarely do we see a 6-letter partial in LAT.
3. Only reigning pope to write an autobiography : PIUS II. No clue. How come no other pope followed him then? Must be a bad idea.
4. Some Air Force NCOs : T-SGTs. Technical Sergeants.
5. Spillane's "__ Jury" : I THE
6. College founded by Norwegian immigrants : SAINT OLAF. Here in Minnesota.
7. Smart one : MENSAN. Hey, the one I know is a Dummy.
8. Sporty car roof : T-TOP
9. __ Claire, Wisconsin : EAU
10. Represent : ACT FOR
12. French possessive : A TOI. Give me this, je suis A TOI!
13. Natural sugar : GLUCOSE
14. Barrett of Pink Floyd : SYD
15. Midmorning hr. : TEN AM
16. Hopkins's "Thor" role : ODIN
18. Encroachment : INROAD
19. Hall of Fame fullback Larry : CSONKA. I can never remember this name.
24. "Give 'er some gas!" : GUN IT
28. Censures : CONDEMNS
33. Means of access : DOOR
36. Newsman Koppel : TED
37. Company with a Pegasus trademark : MOBIL. And 40. Standard Oil name : ESSO.
38. Quechua speaker : INCAN
39. Bustling times : ADOS
43. Pals : AMIGOS
44. Paints the town red : PARTIES
45. Fake fat : OLESTRA
47. Bette's "Divine" nickname : MISS M
49. Krispy cracker : SALTINE
50. Corporate raider Carl : ICAHN. Darn it, I realized I had googled him before.
53. Lisbon lady : SENHORA
56. Milne's Roo, e.g. : JOEY
60. "For pleasures past I do not __ ...": Byron : GRIEVE
62. "Hop __": Seuss work : ON POP
64. Toward the center : INNER
68. Well maintained : IN REPAIR. Sounds like broken, no?
74. Cheri of "SNL" : OTERI
75. Piano, e.g.: Abbr. : INSTR. OK, Instrument.
77. Sibilant attention-getter : PSST
79. Pulls on : DONS
82. Jobs at Apple, say : CO-FOUNDER. Steve Jobs.
85. __ a bell: was familiar : RANG
87. They may be bruised : EGOS
89. Envy, for one : SIN
91. Baseball announcer's cry : IT'S A HIT. Ready for some baseball, LaLaLinda?
93. Unrelenting : STERN
95. "Butterfly" co-star who won the 1982 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress : ZADORA (Pia). Did not know the Razzie Award trivia. I bet Buckeye does.
96. Left the building : EXITED
98. Supreme Egyptian deity : AMEN RA. Quite a few different spellings. AMON RA as well.
99. Like Serbs or Croats : BALKAN
100. Form concepts : IDEATE. Hey, it's a real word.
101. "The Citadel" author A.J. __ : CRONIN
102. Prompted to attack, with "on" : SICCED
108. One of yoga's five vital forces : PRANA. Another learning moment.
110. Go slowly (along) : POKE
112. 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate : BARR (Bob). Where was I? Did not recall this name at all.
113. Hill helper : AIDE. Capitol Hill.
114. Testify : AVER
116. Sometime classroom leaders, briefly : TAs
117. Milano Mr. : SIG. Short for signore.
Answer grid.
C.C.
Good Morning C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteTIA for a great write-up, C.C., since I am writing my comments before I read it…
The theme was OK, but TONI MORRISON, SOLO LANDING, ANTI-ABORTION and PETTY LARCENY didn’t exactly sparkle, IMO.
There were several winces, including clunky partials like A RASIE, ACT FOR, ON POP, awkward wordings like ARISTAE, AURORAE, FORA, BILLER, ERODER and obscure references like FLIC, ARENA ROCK (huh?), NEO DADA.
But with so many theme entries, there were bound to be some compromises., so overall a good effort, IMO.
MJ, LOL at your funny poem last night on the Conundrum comments. Very clever to stuff all those crosswordese names into one poem!!
TTYL!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle and a fine mental workout as well. The theme was interesting, and I managed to catch onto it fairly early on, but it didn't really help me solve anything.
Lots of small hurdles today:
* The north central section took awhile. I knew that 8A involved tea, but it took way to long to get TEA BAGS. Plus, I didn't know which sugar would go at 13D, didn't know my French enough to get ATOI, never heard of FLIC and got stumped for awhile on BILLER.
* The SE corner was also rough with the unknown PRANA crossing the obnoxious abbreviation PRIN.
* The crossing of ERODER and DONS was also rough. The former seems a stretch (I had ENERGY at first) and the latter just fooled me. The fact that I don't know anything about poker and therefore couldn't get ONE PAIR didn't help that section any.
* I didn't know that FORA were marketplaces -- I thought they were just where senators met.
* I thought IN REPAIR should have properly been IN GOOD REPAIR to make sense.
* I don't care who Khloe Kardashian married.
* I probably should have remembered BARR, but didn't.
* NEODADA? If you say so.
Hi There ~!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with both Marti and Barry on this - while I enjoyed the mental workout, the reference-type clue/answers just didn't 'light up' like most Sundays; and that's too bad, because I can see that this grid took a lot of effort to construct, yet still left us with some clunkers.
Arena Rock - like VAN HALEN, the band I just saw on Thursday at Madison Square Garden - the "most famous arena in the world"
Oh, yes, C.C., I am still trying to get to my "Elysium" - long legs welcome ~!
Splynter
Good Morning weekend warriors, wherever you are.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the puzzle. Got the theme idea early, but it didn't help, since the matching entries were rather obscure (obtuse?) phrases.
I was clever enough to leave off the final letter of ARISTAE and AURORAE and wait for the perps to complete the words. I always have trouble deciding if it's going to be OLAF or OLAV. And somehow I had the mistaken idea that Potsdam was in Poland. But the one I don't get at all is Cop/FLIC. Can somebody please 'splain?
CC, thanks for the shoutout this morning. PRIN is actually short for principal (person) rather than principle (fundamental). It's like that capital/capitol dilemma. Ain't English fun!
Good morning all:
ReplyDeleteNice write-up, CC, and kudos to Mr. Williams. Again, I finished w/o help and no write-overs but I did not enjoy this puzzle. Maybe it's just me but I find the cross-referencing of clues frustrating. I spent a lot of time on the solve and didn't feel the least bit satisfied when I finally finished. C'est la vie.
Good morning. Thanks C.C. for the illumination.
ReplyDeleteMy solve was nearly identical to DO's. But it was a DNF for me. Had the first two cells of 108A empty then HTG for the R in Cronin. Still couldn't suss out the P. Guess I was mentally hung up on some variation of senior or BMOC or Prom Queen to think about administration. That's the worst clunker in the grid, IMO.
Otherwise, I thought the theme was reasonably clever and the construction very ambitious. Can't say that the initials being in other answers really helped, but knowing they were common netspeak phrases definitely did. Fill about half through perps, and the rest comes easy.
A Sunday puzzle sometimes is tough at the top and tender at the bottom (or is that a vegetable?) but this one was the reverse. Leonard’s fine effort enticed me in and then made me struggle a little.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Smart ministers carry crackers or such to placate little baptisees at the font
-S plural for me too C.C.
-Men are less sensitive to signals sent TACITLY
-FLIC/ATOI crossing a Natick? Got it on a WAG.
-Daughter sold house AS IS and new owners have put in a new sewer line and put on a new roof
-I am ignorant in all things Kardashian and would have preferred the former Athletics pitcher
-Yoko’s genre is a gimme for about 12 people on the planet
-Rappers/rock stars have lots of REMORAS
-Had ACESUP for my hole cards first
-Csonka is also famous for this right hand gesture on SI cover
-Hop On Pop was popular with my girls as a book and activity
-Former students complain bitterly about paying for a big time college education and then wind up trying to decipher what a TA is saying
I hate when that happens, the old conflicting edits, delete my comments.
ReplyDeleteAh well, thank you C.C. for the write up and education on initialisms which my spell check does not like, but which are often a major part of Friday puzzles.
FLIC is just what the French call cops, like the Filth in England or the Pigs in the US.
Thank you Mr. Williams, welcome to our wrold
Senhora is not Spanish, making Lisbon a misdirection.
ReplyDeleteGood morning! Fine write up, CC.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting exercize. I almost got hung up on ADOS/REMORAS/NEODADA crossings. I had everything but the DO and had to mentally run the letters of the alphabet before It finally clicked. V8 can please...
OTOH, ('on the other hand' for the non-textspeak crowd) the crossing of FLIC/ATOI didn't slow me down. I know very little French, but Miss Piggy's "MOI?" told me to try putting in the OI and let the perps fill the rest.
I sort of had the feeling that the constructor was tweaking our collective noses with this one. Netspeak, being all about shortcuts and bad grammar, goes well with abbrs, short, clunky fill and twisted clues. I viewed it as an expanded version of Marti's GAWD AWFUL puzzle: Fun to do, but a lot of groaners in the fill.
Addendum
ReplyDelete–ATOI – Dictionary section from aardvark to izzat?
-I wonder if FLIC as a Cop in Cannes contained a subliminal clue vis a vis the film festival there?
-Off to the rites of the Mass
Good morning, FWIW, I loved this puzzle, thanks to
ReplyDeleteC.C. & Mr.Williams
Here's a lil somethin somethin that might help you...your principal is your pal
Have a great day and thanks for everything
Anon @9:57, last time I checked, Lisbon was in Portugal. Senhora is the Portugese word for "lady", while in Spanish it would be Señora. So no misdirection, far as I can tell?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, all those SENHORAs that live in Lisbon, Portugal will disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember The POKY Little Puppy? It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteToo bad the HOP ON POP wasn't in Friday's puzzle, since March 2 would have been the 108th birthday of Dr. Seuss.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteWhat a tricky grid this must have been to build. I say the guy gets an easy reprieve for the occasional groaner, it's inevitable.
NEO DADA? Whatever! I don't recall seeing any of Yoko's art. If it is in the same class as her singing, well, she needn't bother. Speaking of iffy talent, we have Pia ZADORA, whose career would have flamed out early on if it hadn't been propped up by her husband's $ millions. She arrived at my airport in her Gulfstream once.
The car rental people assigned me a Dodge NITRO during my Pittsburgh trip last week. It was a miserable thing to drive.
BARR who? Doesn't ring a bell.
Bob BARR is a former Republican congressman from Georgia that joined the Libertarian party. He always makes the statement that he didn't leave the Republican Party, the party left him. Joe Lieberman makes a similar comment about leaving the Democrat party and becoming an Independent. I've met Mr. BARR on several occasions and find him an interesting person to talk to, but i don't share some of his Libertarian views.
ReplyDeleteDudley, I meant to comment earlier on this, and would like your take. I didn't care a great deal for solo landing. I mean, sure. It's part of the milestone, but I've never heard the phrase used. It's always solo flight.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I rented a Jeep Patriot in Austin last week. I and both my sons agreed that it was the worst vehicle we'd ever driven.
Oh boy, now we can have a cross of PRIN and ELHI.
ReplyDeleteI had some nits with the cluing.
ONE PAIR(90A): with only two hole cards, you better have only ONE pair.
Which is heavier; a TON of lead or a TON of feathers? And my point is that a TON doesn't have to mean size, just weight. So 80A should have been 'Heavy load', not "Large load".
I didn't care for 88A either.
Good morning C.C. and all.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the earlier commenters' comments. I thought the reference type clues didn't 'sparkle'; however, 2 of them, TTYL, and TIA, were helpful to me in getting their counterpart long fill. I, too, thought FLIC was overly arcane. But as in most cases, the perps were sufficient. I never trust the OLAF spelling. Favorite clue was for TEA BAGS. Agree with Argyle about ROSS SEA, but its easiness kind of made up for Flic. It seemed a little harder than some Sunday puzzles, but, overall, it seemed fair enough.
Librarian@10:10 -- I remember the Poky Little Puppy very well. Another favorite of mine was the story of Hesperus, the rundown car in the junkyard. A little later I learned to love the Thornton W. Burgess Mother Westwind stories (Blacky the Crow, Sammy the Jay, Bobby Coon, Old Man Coyote, Whitefoot the Woodmouse, Little Joe Otter), and later still the F.W. Dixon Hardy Boys stories.
ReplyDeleteMy (long ago) Spanish classes failed me here. Only knew of aqui, and not ACA. That, with the total unknown of the crossing ICAHN kept me from perfection today, after quite a long struggle.
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteDoing the CW a lot better than
watching the hockey game.
"Don't judge a book by the movie
that is made". Screne writers
really chopped up the book to make the DVD.
Glucose was a gimmie since I measure my amount 4X/day.
No rain out in PHX today for NASCAR
race.
eddy
Good morning C.C. et al,
ReplyDeleteWell C.C., I'm sure you know how I felt about this one...HIDDEN abbreviations..yikes! I ignored those clues and used the perps while I prodded through. Finally finished with no good feelings about the puzzle or myself.
Have to thank Mr. Williams for not giving us a plethora of unknown names, although there were a few for me, and then there was neo-nada, flic and ad rem.
Is sicced pronounced sicked? That is what I thought, but thanks in advance changed it(actually the red letter showed me it was wrong).
C.C., thanks for introducing me to initialism and truncation.
Librarian, The Pokey Little Puppy is the book I use to do the puzzle when I'm with the boys. It's a perfect size (I have the big one).And D-otto, I remember all of those Mother West Wind series.
@ Amon Ra: remember that Egyptians did their hieroglyphs by sound. They did not hear that o in Amon Ra, nor the u in Tutankhamun, so they did not use a hieroglyph for it. When it is translated to our alphabet, we add whatever it sounds like to us.
ReplyDeleteThey wouldn't double their letters either, like we do in DeBBie, TaMMy, etc.The ie and the y would be the same hieroglyph as they sound alike.
IrishMiss@9:06 No Writeovers? i'm
ReplyDeletejealous, i had:
59A chronicle anew=remap
109A attend tiny tot=change
120A more miniscule=smaller
123A (misread) go"l"fer's list=strokes
5D ____jury=iama (i dunno. i had i am a camera stuck in my head)
9D STE Claire
24D Give it some gas=Revit
79D pulls on=tugs
And for some strange reason, when i looked for a Google image of "Prins" THIS came up?
Lastly (is that a word?) since 103D was "Inkers", i feel that this clip is in order. Crossword Inker
JD@1:17 -- Interesting that you mentioned Debbie and Tammy in the same breath. Back in '57 Debbie (Reynolds) had a top hit singing Tammy. Coincidence?
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone ~~
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to say about this puzzle. I know it must have been challenging to construct and I appreciate that. Your analysis of the grid, C.C. helps me to understand such things. I struggled through it and although I finished, like others, I really didn't feel any satisfaction ... I'm not sure why. I did learn a lot, both from the puzzle and from your write-up, C.C. So there's that.
~~ Among my learning moments: AMENRA, PRANA and REMORAS.
~~ TEABAGS was my last fill. I was thinking of "leaves" as a verb ... clever cluing! I also liked 'Slip in a pool parlor'/MISCUE.
~~ I'm following the Red Sox in Spring Training and looking forward to the start of the season. I need to erase the end of last season from my memory!
CED @ 1:29-I guess having no write-overs is why I spent so long finishing. Usually, unless I'm fairly certain my answer is correct, I don't fill in until perps make answer obvious. I'll never win any prizes for speed but I think I'd be in the running for one for stubbornness in not seeking outside help, at least, not until I'm ready to pull my hair out!
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday to all.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteA bit harder than the usual Sunday for me. One google. Theme difficult. Hate referential entries. Thanks CC for fine explanation.
Had a natick at TSONGA and NITRO.
Couldn't finish last night. Things were better after some sleep!
Have a great Sunday!
Agree on INREPAIR.
Hello everybody. Well, today's puzzle made me think. And I learned, or re-learned, a few things. And, of course, got duly misdirected at certain spots, such as Leaves in water. I kept thinking of lily pads and the like, or leaves fallen from trees.
ReplyDeleteAs for tea leaves, I used to always and only use loose leaves. But as time passed I got lazier. In addition to plain old laziness, I re-discovered a tea called Red Rose, a product of Canada, that I like a lot, which, as far as I know, comes only in bags. Anyway, I was too lazy to find out if it is available in loose leaf also. So the upshot is that I use Red Rose teabags now.
Hmmm, the fact that I had more to say about teabags than about the puzzle ...
I, too, did not know FLIC. I tried to spell CSONKA as Czonka. And I care nothing about the Kardashians nor Yoko Ono.
What's the beef with ROSS SEA?
Interesting we had the discussion of Tut Ankh Amen vs Tut Ankh Amun yesterday. Today I wanted Amun Ra; Amen Ra just doesn't look right.
ReplyDeleteSorta like the whole Lao Tzu, Lao Tse, Lau Zi, Lau Tzu thing.
Which makes me wonder, if Kong Zi was "Romanized" to Confucius and Meng Zi was Romanized to Mencius, why wasn't Lau Zi Romanized to something like Laucius? Ah, the quirks of human nature.
Having 6 years of fun in Canton makes me think of the Beach Boys, for some reason.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all,
ReplyDeleteYesterday and today I got 'er done, puzzlewise. But a labor! Thanks for the write-up C.C. Today my only uncorrected goof was 39D AgO for bustling time. I was thinking the bustle-style in old 1860's dresses. Didn't know or care about Yoko's daubs.
One of my older cousins brought me a Poky Little Puppy book when I was three. I followed her around with the book the whole week and climbed on her lap anytime she sat down, insisting she read it. When my kids got the book, I found I still knew the whole thing by memory from that time.
Gary @9;23: Students not only have trouble understanding TA's. My son was in mechanical engineering and had to get a C to stay in the program. He took calculus from a full professor whose first language was Chinese. He got a D in the course and had to repeat it. After about three such incidents, he learned to "shop" for a professor who spoke English without accent. We were on such a tight budget after my husband died, it was difficult to find money to take each requisite twice. Perseverance was necessary.
ReplyDeleteWhen we went to parent orientation before college started, the Dean talked about "the rich ethnic mix" at the college. Translated that means "the prof doesn't speak your language".
AVJOE: A pilot can't have a successful solo flight unless he lands. That's the hard part.
ReplyDeleteI was moving right along, enjoying this Sunday morning puzzle, thinking,
ReplyDelete* BILLER... fair 'nuff,
* INKERS... Ha, I've seen this before, That is the term used
* OLESTRA... that's new
-- wait,
* ERODER?? why ruin a perfectly good puzzle with such a clunker.
Tried to use TIA to solve 97A only to see I had 2 TI?s. Decided to just do the puzzle and look for the theme answers afterward.
I have the same problem with ACA as @Chan. Only learned aqui in Spanish class.
Knew FLIC from long ago... probably a Jean-Paul Belmondo movie. Always think first of Sbire, which is another pejorative term for police and appears at the end of Act 2 in Tales of Hoffman -- but apparently means henchman in contemporary French.
Have I mentioned here the definition of "faith" I heard some time ago in a lecture on religion? The professor was quoting some kid who said in a Sunday school class, "Faith is believing in something that you know ain't so." Using this definition, I question the clue for DEISM.
Have a good Sunday, anyway.
Happy Sunday! It's beautiful here but a bit warmer than it has been. It's 85 right now, a bit too warm for my taste.
ReplyDeleteI had about the same reaction to the puzzle as many others. I got it done but without the same spirit of fun I got from the Gawd Awful Puzzle.
Jordan had his last basketball game today. He actually shot the ball three times, a first for him and earning him a comic book. Next year we'll work on actually getting the ball into the basket.
Answering C.C.'s query, I am not a big fan of Gong Li's beauty. Not my style but I'd have a hard time explaining why.
I recorded 'Love Actually', one of my favorite movies. I'll be watching it for the fourth time or so. When I turned on the TV to watch something else, it happened to be showing my favorite scene in 'Love Actually.' There are many enjoyable parts of that movie but this one scene makes me smile every time.
Now the Lakers are on. TTFN. (Ta ta for now.)
Today's puzzle got off to a good start, but had to leave it and come back, or pull out my hair like Irish Miss.
ReplyDeleteGot hung up in the bottom center, when I wouldn't change 118D from ANTS to AIDE. Should have known better; ants is plural. Get out the V-8.
My Grandpa used to read me The Pokey Little Puppy in his Norwegian accent, with his great laugh. Thanks for the memory, Librarian and D-otto.
PK@2:41, I'm acutely aware that landing is the hardest part as well as the fact that it is the most crucial element of the first solo flight. Anyone with a modicum of ability can take off safely with a CFI in the right seat and 2 minutes of step by step instructions on their introductory flight. But it takes a few hours of lessons to be able to put it down safely, and it takes approximately 40 hours of air time as PIC plus groundschool to even qualify for solo. That notwithstanding, I've never once heard the term "solo landing". It's always been simply "solo" or "solo flight". I never obtained my private license, but I have soloed.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon, folks. Thank you, Leonard Williams, for a swell Sunday puzzle. And, if my memory serves me correctly, you have had a puzzle in the L A Times before. Thank you, C.C., for a swell write-up.
ReplyDeleteStarted early this morning on this, but went to Chicago for a Home-Brewing School. Finished the puzzle on the way back on the train.
Caught on to the theme after a short while. It helped me get some of the answers.
There were some tough ones that I needed perps and wags to get. ie: AD REM, NOH, ACA, REMORAS, FLIC, SAINT OLAF, ATOI, and maybe a couple more. But, it worked!
I had no problem with SOLO LANDING. I agree, you don't really hear that term, but for purposes of the crossword puzzle I accept it. Plus I got it easily. I flew as a teenager. Soloed after about 10-12 hours. Never got my Private License because I supported myself starting at age 19 and flying was not in my budget. I was flying for $8.00 an hour solo, in a Piper.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Avg Joe -
ReplyDeleteJust got back from a quick trip down to Danbury, but it wasn't a solo trip.
About your question 10:34: I quite agree, SOLO LANDING isn't a phrase you'd hear around an airport. However, it doesn't actually seem wrong for crossword purposes, just unfamiliar. I think you'll agree that landings performed in the earlier phases of soloing can really raise the anxiety level! :-)
easy joe
ReplyDeleteHusker Gary: I can promise you at most universities full professors do not just sit around and collect big checks. At most universities, professors are NOT that well paid. For you to make a generalized statement like that is offensive.
ReplyDeleteDudley @ 4:33, I was waiting to hear you take on SOLO LANDING. When I filled it in, I thought "WWDT" (What Would Dudley Think?"). So, I guess I was on your same wavelength - not a common term heard at airports, but for crosswords, "Anything Goes"!
ReplyDeleteBP, I didn’t mean ALL Profs, as I had some good ones but I have signed up for high-class instruction that didn’t pan out and have had many former students say the same thing. “Why can’t I get someone who speaks the language?” I apologize if you took it to be a huge percent and I don’t know any Profs who start at $30,000 working 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. My friend’s son taught at a big university and saw students for 8 hrs. per week and had a huge income. His Dad and I razzed him about it a lot.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to continue this offline if your name was blue. I don’t want to hijack the blog out of respect to our host, so feel free to contact me privately.
Thanks for the response Dudley. That parallels my take.
ReplyDeleteAnd Marti, can't pass up this opportunity. One of my daughters friends came up with the alternate for WWJD....."Who wants Jack Daniels?" :-)
joe, that has been around since 2003 among many, many others. Check out urban dictionary
ReplyDeleteIt occurred to me while reading Bill G's post, after Marti's Gawd Awful Puzzle, everything else seems a little less fun.
ReplyDeleteAs a newbie, i was hesitant to post "The Crossword Inker," thinking that you guys had probably seen it before. But i was hoping for some feedback,,, were those names real, or made up?
Bill G: Since you like to post interesting videos of nature and such, I though you might like some of these still Photos.
ReplyDelete-PK, I got an “A” in Calculus 1 taught by a great teacher educated at Notre Dame who spoke the language very well. I scrambled for a “C” in Calculus 2 because my East Indian prof could not speak the language – cosine squared became cosine scared and matrices were mattresses or some such
ReplyDelete-The wind is horrendous here today but nothing like the horrible weather east of us. How scary!
-I share the philosophy of Deism with many of our founding fathers like Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, et al.
-There were 19 monsters in our recent history who took flying lessons that had no interest in learning how to land.
(edited by Husker @5:52 pm)
Anon@5:23: I didn't know that. Hadn't heard it before or since. But I'll take your word for it and I'm glad you're having fun.
ReplyDeleteMe and My Shadow
The major reason I changed my mind about wanting to become a college professor was my experience hobnobbing with them, and with Ph.D. candidates who unashamedly sucked up to them. The more I learned about what happens "behind the scenes" in that profession, the more I knew I didn't want to be one. I found that it is a rare professor indeed who gives a hoot about the students. Most of the ones I got to know (all of them at Stanford) cared only for doing research and writing papers and books that aggrandized themselves. The 2 profs I knew who actually cared about teaching their students are the only ones I had and have any respect for. Not surprisingly, I learned more from them and thrived far better in their courses and seminars.
ReplyDeleteLeapling, those were great. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI just got back from Target's pharmacy. My doctor gave me a couple of new prescriptions and apparently my insurance company didn't like them. One was for generic Lipitor. The insurance company approved a 30-day supply but that's all. After that, they won't cover it at all. GENERIC no less. Then my doctor thought Celebrex would ease the arthritic pain in my knees. That costs $155 for a 30-day supply. After my insurance chipped in their share, I still owed $80. Needing medicine is getting to be an expensive proposition.
I was watching TCM and came across this short that includes the Stepp Brothers, a jazz band, a barber shop background and some very old-style entertainment from 1933.
ReplyDeleteBarber Shop Blues
Started at 9:13 pm est.
ReplyDeleteFinished at 10:06 pm est.
Missed 2 - nexuses at noh/senhora and prin/prana
Good write-up about the difference between an initialization and an acronym.
Good night! This new arrangement is truly awful. Why the comment at the bottom? Is it to make sure one reads all the comments before one makes one's own?
ReplyDeleteNow I see how wonderful preview is.
Good grief. The preview actually works now. That's one improvement anyway.
AVJOE: Just had to kid you a little about the landing. You do a great job here. Enjoy your posts.
ReplyDeleteGary: the language barrier thing in college was especially scary for me because my perfectionist son hated anything less than an A. Two engineering students committed suicide in his dorm after the first semester grades came out. Happily, my kid persevered. I told him it wasn't the end of the world and he was there for a learning experience which he got. He got a B the next time he took the course.
My brother is a college professor teaching genetics including genetic diseases. He doesn't turn his classes over to TA's because he feels the material is too important to future professionals. He said people only remember half of what they hear so the TA's only know half what he's told them.
I've been catching some reruns of Numb3rs. Geez, that was a good show. The one I just saw was where Larry Fleinhardt left for his space shuttle trip to the ISS. I thought his girlfriend, Megan, and Charlie's girlfriend, Amita, were such appealing actors.
ReplyDeleteWho Wants Jack Daniels! Love it, that's my style of humor.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I freely admit to being a commitedly irreligious man.
Just found Marti's cute puzzle. Thank's Marti! Lots of fun. No retypes!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzjFf7YbmKo
ReplyDelete