Theme: "Baby Talk" - One word in each common phrase is replaced by a tot word.
23A. Kissing game? : SPIN THE BABA. Spin the bottle.
44A. Thing sliding down an aisle? : BRIDAL CHOO CHOO. Bridal train.
68A. Popular party appetizers? : PIGGIES IN BLANKIES. Pigs in blankets. This is similiar to the Cantonese sausage bun. The sausage there is sweet though.
23A. Kissing game? : SPIN THE BABA. Spin the bottle.
44A. Thing sliding down an aisle? : BRIDAL CHOO CHOO. Bridal train.
68A. Popular party appetizers? : PIGGIES IN BLANKIES. Pigs in blankets. This is similiar to the Cantonese sausage bun. The sausage there is sweet though.
91A. Dire circumstance, idiomatically? : HELL OR HIGH WAWA. Hell or high water.
118A. "Ego Trippin'" rapper? : SNOOP BOWWOW. Snoop Dogg.
26D. Waistline concern? : WUV HANDLES. Love handles.
64D. Romantic night out? : DIN DIN DATE. Dinner date.
Look at how the two Down theme entries intersect PIGGIES IN BLANKIES? Lovely! I can picture John's excitement when he discovered that he could make them interlock.
Interlocking theme entries creates compromises at times, but also creates smoother grid when you have lots of theme entries.
As always, brilliant clecho (clue echo). Just look at this list:
16A. Spot order? : SIT
19A. Tile with ordered spots : DOMINO
120A. Spot : EYE
127A. Scary spots in suspense movies : LEDGES
92D. Try to spot, with "for" : LOOK
Across:
1. A bundle, maybe : MOOLAH. And TILL (7. Money box)
11. Fully fills : SATES
20. Anderson who sang with Ellington : IVIE. Learned her name from doing Xwords. Wiki says she was born in Gilroy, CA, where our Garlic Girl lives.
21. The 31-Across's Quakers : U PENN. 31A. College hoops org. : NCAA
22. Stout relative : ALE
25. Recessed photo frame : SHADOWBOX. I think Dennis has one with all his medals/ribbons.
27. With 98-Across, "The most beautiful face in the world? It's yours" speaker : ESTEE. 98A. See 27-Across : LAUDER. Nice to have both filled in the grid.
28. Turner of records : TINA
29. "__ a Lady" : SHE'S. Tom Jones. I like his "Sex Bomb".
30. Lousy-sounding sausage : WURST
33. Movie promo : TRAILER
36. Wine holders : VATS
37. Compassionate : HUMANE. Foreign word to the despicable troll on our blog.
41. Some are tributarios : RIOS
42. Tchaikovsky's middle name : ILICH. Who knows!
48. Old ad challenge to wannabe artists : DRAW ME
52. Leer at : OGLE. Thought of Jazzbumpa' OGLE definition a while ago.
53. Rest atop : LIE ON
54. Filmmaker Lee : ANG. Literally "Peace".
56. Cause of kitchen tears : ONION
57. Brooks of comedy : MEL
58. Waterfall sounds : ROARS
59. Wordplay user : WIT
61. Iditarod front-runner : LEAD DOG. JD once met with an Iditarod winner. Jeff King, I think.
63. Half a 45 : B-SIDE
65. Zeno, e.g. : STOIC
67. Like sack dresses : BELT-LESS
72. Fran Drescher sitcom : THE NANNY. I can hear her nasal voice.
74. Miller's Willy : LOMAN. From "Death of a Salesman".
75. Lab protection org.? : ASPCA. Lab dog.
78. Andy with record-setting serves in excess of 150 mph : RODDICK. He's quite witty.
79. Barnyard beast : ASS
80. Cheney's successor : BIDEN
83. Dorm VIPs : RAs
84. Words often heard before a large number : ONE IN (a million)
85. Big Papi's team : SOX. For Linda. Big Papi is the nickname of David Ortiz, who used to be with the Twins. The ex-Twin I miss most is Johan Santana.
87. One of the Minor Prophets : HOSEA
88. Bloke : GENT
89. Animation pioneer : DISNEY
95. Critical times : D-DAYS
97. Pos. and neg. : OPPs
99. Large land mass : ASIA
102. Court activity : MOTIONS
104. Noah's eldest : SHEM. So, how many people boarded Noah's Ark?
106. Keebler cracker : ZESTA
108. 15th-century English ruling house : YORK
109. Going nowhere : IDLE
111. Doctor Bartolo, in "The Barber of Seville" : BASSO. Is Doctor Bartolo a bad guy? I know nothing about "The Barber of Seville".
116. Observatory tool : TELESCOPE
121. Cut off during pursuit : HEM IN
122. Aural cleaner : Q-TIP
123. "The Hairy Ape" playwright : O'NEILL (Eugene)
124. Coral isle : CAY
125. Bring joy to : ELATE
126. Steinway's partners? : SONS. Steinway & Sons. Both John & Rich are pianists.
Down:
1. Catalog stuff: Abbr. : MDSE
2. "Forgetful me!" : OOPS
3. Forget to include : OMIT
4. It may be broken on the road : LINE. White line on the road?
5. Beetle's appendage : ANTENNA
6. Water, to chemists : HOH. Reminded me of the HOO puzzle Bruce Sutphin & Doug Peterson constructed last Dec. They mistakenly thought water is HOO.
7. Talus neighbor : TIBIA
8. Terrible tsar : IVAN
9. Booze, facetiously : LIBATION
10. Low area? : LEA. Low is "Cattle call" here. Noun. And 50. Lows : MOOS. Verb.
11. Japanese restaurant staple : SUSHI
12. Orbital point farthest from the sun : APHELION. Gimme to Spitzboov/Bill G. New word to me.
13. Thistlelike plant : TEASEL
14. Stop : END
15. Winter blanket : SNOW
16. Native Israeli : SABRA
17. Runner-up's lament : I LOST
18. Campus armful : TEXTS
24. JFK posting : ETA
29. Merit badge site : SASH
32. String quartet member : CELLO. And 96. Musician with a 1712 Stradivarius : YO-YO MA.
34. Sinbad's giant egg-layer : ROC
35. Relieve (of) : RID
37. "Ivy Mike" test weapon : H-BOMB. Never heard of "Ivy Mike".
38. Eggs on : URGES
39. Multi-legged critters : MILLIPEDES
40. Juice drink suffix : ADE
41. Sits in a cage, say : ROOSTS
43. Zagreb resident : CROATIAN
45. Covert govt. group : CIA
46. "A Bell for Adano" author : HERSEY. Hey, "Adano" as a clue!
47. Feedbag morsel : OAT
49. Common : WIDESPREAD
51. Many MIT grads : ENGS
55. Watkins __: N.Y. road-racing town : GLEN. No idea, but Argyle knows all the road racing in N.Y.
58. Won back : REGAINED
59. Skid row figures : WINOS
60. Long-range nuke : ICBM
62. Grazer with a rack : ELK
66. Paints for Pissarro : OILS
67. Exile : BANISH
69. Health supplements co. : GNC
70. Colonial well fillers : INKS
71. Dwells on to excess : LABORS
72. Plodded : TROD
73. Hägar's daughter : HONI. Pronounced as "Honey", correct?
76. "Please, Daddy?" : CAN WE? John has two daughters.
77. "__ Is Born" : A STAR
79. Drop from the staff : AXE. Fire.
81. Agnus __ : DEI
82. Aerie builder : EAGLE. Fun to see "Aerie" as clue too.
86. "Come on, that's enough!" : OH STOP IT
87. Enters, as a cab : HOPS INTO
88. D.C. school named for a president : GWU
90. Verb for Popeye : YAM. "I yam what I yam..".
93. TLC provider : LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse)
94. Fido's Easter treat : HAM BONE. The clue made me smile.
99. Montezuma, e.g. : AZTEC
100. "Later!" : SEE YA
101. R&B's __ Brothers : ISLEY
103. Sherlock's adversary Adler : IRENE
104. Feeds, as pigs : SLOPS
105. Cool, old-style : HEP
107. Tennis legend : ASHE (Arthur)
110. Rub out : DO IN. Kill.
112. Quite impressed : AWED. The other day I marveled at Marti's eclectic hobbies & skills to Boomer. He said: "But what's her bowling average?"
113. Moonshine mouthful : SWIG. Quite a few alliterative clues in this puzzle.
114. Like some providers : SOLE
115. Feathered head-turners : OWLS. Wow, all the owls will be pleased with this clue!
117. Animation collectible : CEL. Speaking of collectibles, do any of you own the original Stratego? Splynter is looking for one.
118. Quilting units: Abbr. : SQs
119. Arg. neighbor : BOL (Bolivia)
Answer grid.
C.C.
118A. "Ego Trippin'" rapper? : SNOOP BOWWOW. Snoop Dogg.
26D. Waistline concern? : WUV HANDLES. Love handles.
64D. Romantic night out? : DIN DIN DATE. Dinner date.
Look at how the two Down theme entries intersect PIGGIES IN BLANKIES? Lovely! I can picture John's excitement when he discovered that he could make them interlock.
Interlocking theme entries creates compromises at times, but also creates smoother grid when you have lots of theme entries.
As always, brilliant clecho (clue echo). Just look at this list:
16A. Spot order? : SIT
19A. Tile with ordered spots : DOMINO
120A. Spot : EYE
127A. Scary spots in suspense movies : LEDGES
92D. Try to spot, with "for" : LOOK
Across:
1. A bundle, maybe : MOOLAH. And TILL (7. Money box)
11. Fully fills : SATES
20. Anderson who sang with Ellington : IVIE. Learned her name from doing Xwords. Wiki says she was born in Gilroy, CA, where our Garlic Girl lives.
21. The 31-Across's Quakers : U PENN. 31A. College hoops org. : NCAA
22. Stout relative : ALE
25. Recessed photo frame : SHADOWBOX. I think Dennis has one with all his medals/ribbons.
27. With 98-Across, "The most beautiful face in the world? It's yours" speaker : ESTEE. 98A. See 27-Across : LAUDER. Nice to have both filled in the grid.
28. Turner of records : TINA
29. "__ a Lady" : SHE'S. Tom Jones. I like his "Sex Bomb".
30. Lousy-sounding sausage : WURST
33. Movie promo : TRAILER
36. Wine holders : VATS
37. Compassionate : HUMANE. Foreign word to the despicable troll on our blog.
41. Some are tributarios : RIOS
42. Tchaikovsky's middle name : ILICH. Who knows!
48. Old ad challenge to wannabe artists : DRAW ME
52. Leer at : OGLE. Thought of Jazzbumpa' OGLE definition a while ago.
53. Rest atop : LIE ON
54. Filmmaker Lee : ANG. Literally "Peace".
56. Cause of kitchen tears : ONION
57. Brooks of comedy : MEL
58. Waterfall sounds : ROARS
59. Wordplay user : WIT
61. Iditarod front-runner : LEAD DOG. JD once met with an Iditarod winner. Jeff King, I think.
63. Half a 45 : B-SIDE
65. Zeno, e.g. : STOIC
67. Like sack dresses : BELT-LESS
72. Fran Drescher sitcom : THE NANNY. I can hear her nasal voice.
74. Miller's Willy : LOMAN. From "Death of a Salesman".
75. Lab protection org.? : ASPCA. Lab dog.
78. Andy with record-setting serves in excess of 150 mph : RODDICK. He's quite witty.
79. Barnyard beast : ASS
80. Cheney's successor : BIDEN
83. Dorm VIPs : RAs
84. Words often heard before a large number : ONE IN (a million)
85. Big Papi's team : SOX. For Linda. Big Papi is the nickname of David Ortiz, who used to be with the Twins. The ex-Twin I miss most is Johan Santana.
87. One of the Minor Prophets : HOSEA
88. Bloke : GENT
89. Animation pioneer : DISNEY
95. Critical times : D-DAYS
97. Pos. and neg. : OPPs
99. Large land mass : ASIA
102. Court activity : MOTIONS
104. Noah's eldest : SHEM. So, how many people boarded Noah's Ark?
106. Keebler cracker : ZESTA
108. 15th-century English ruling house : YORK
109. Going nowhere : IDLE
111. Doctor Bartolo, in "The Barber of Seville" : BASSO. Is Doctor Bartolo a bad guy? I know nothing about "The Barber of Seville".
116. Observatory tool : TELESCOPE
121. Cut off during pursuit : HEM IN
122. Aural cleaner : Q-TIP
123. "The Hairy Ape" playwright : O'NEILL (Eugene)
124. Coral isle : CAY
125. Bring joy to : ELATE
126. Steinway's partners? : SONS. Steinway & Sons. Both John & Rich are pianists.
Down:
1. Catalog stuff: Abbr. : MDSE
2. "Forgetful me!" : OOPS
3. Forget to include : OMIT
4. It may be broken on the road : LINE. White line on the road?
5. Beetle's appendage : ANTENNA
6. Water, to chemists : HOH. Reminded me of the HOO puzzle Bruce Sutphin & Doug Peterson constructed last Dec. They mistakenly thought water is HOO.
7. Talus neighbor : TIBIA
8. Terrible tsar : IVAN
9. Booze, facetiously : LIBATION
10. Low area? : LEA. Low is "Cattle call" here. Noun. And 50. Lows : MOOS. Verb.
11. Japanese restaurant staple : SUSHI
12. Orbital point farthest from the sun : APHELION. Gimme to Spitzboov/Bill G. New word to me.
13. Thistlelike plant : TEASEL
14. Stop : END
15. Winter blanket : SNOW
16. Native Israeli : SABRA
17. Runner-up's lament : I LOST
18. Campus armful : TEXTS
24. JFK posting : ETA
29. Merit badge site : SASH
32. String quartet member : CELLO. And 96. Musician with a 1712 Stradivarius : YO-YO MA.
34. Sinbad's giant egg-layer : ROC
35. Relieve (of) : RID
37. "Ivy Mike" test weapon : H-BOMB. Never heard of "Ivy Mike".
38. Eggs on : URGES
39. Multi-legged critters : MILLIPEDES
40. Juice drink suffix : ADE
41. Sits in a cage, say : ROOSTS
43. Zagreb resident : CROATIAN
45. Covert govt. group : CIA
46. "A Bell for Adano" author : HERSEY. Hey, "Adano" as a clue!
47. Feedbag morsel : OAT
49. Common : WIDESPREAD
51. Many MIT grads : ENGS
55. Watkins __: N.Y. road-racing town : GLEN. No idea, but Argyle knows all the road racing in N.Y.
58. Won back : REGAINED
59. Skid row figures : WINOS
60. Long-range nuke : ICBM
62. Grazer with a rack : ELK
66. Paints for Pissarro : OILS
67. Exile : BANISH
69. Health supplements co. : GNC
70. Colonial well fillers : INKS
71. Dwells on to excess : LABORS
72. Plodded : TROD
73. Hägar's daughter : HONI. Pronounced as "Honey", correct?
76. "Please, Daddy?" : CAN WE? John has two daughters.
77. "__ Is Born" : A STAR
79. Drop from the staff : AXE. Fire.
81. Agnus __ : DEI
82. Aerie builder : EAGLE. Fun to see "Aerie" as clue too.
86. "Come on, that's enough!" : OH STOP IT
87. Enters, as a cab : HOPS INTO
88. D.C. school named for a president : GWU
90. Verb for Popeye : YAM. "I yam what I yam..".
93. TLC provider : LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse)
94. Fido's Easter treat : HAM BONE. The clue made me smile.
99. Montezuma, e.g. : AZTEC
100. "Later!" : SEE YA
101. R&B's __ Brothers : ISLEY
103. Sherlock's adversary Adler : IRENE
104. Feeds, as pigs : SLOPS
105. Cool, old-style : HEP
107. Tennis legend : ASHE (Arthur)
110. Rub out : DO IN. Kill.
112. Quite impressed : AWED. The other day I marveled at Marti's eclectic hobbies & skills to Boomer. He said: "But what's her bowling average?"
113. Moonshine mouthful : SWIG. Quite a few alliterative clues in this puzzle.
114. Like some providers : SOLE
115. Feathered head-turners : OWLS. Wow, all the owls will be pleased with this clue!
117. Animation collectible : CEL. Speaking of collectibles, do any of you own the original Stratego? Splynter is looking for one.
118. Quilting units: Abbr. : SQs
119. Arg. neighbor : BOL (Bolivia)
Answer grid.
C.C.
69 comments:
Good Morning, C.C. and friends. I was soooo on Mr. Lampkin's wavelength today. I loved this puzzle. What fun! Nice shout out to two of our own as well - LemonADE and Tinbini with the CROATIAN/Zagreb clue.
I wasn't fooled by Low Area = LEA and liked the "follow-up" with Lows = MOOS.
Feathered Head-Turners = OWLS was my favorite clue.
It May Be Broken on the Road = LINE was also a fun clue. And yes, C.C., it refers to the passing line.
We've been having some serious flash floods around the area. Scary.
QOD: Anyone who thinks there's safety in numbers hasn't looked at the stock market pages. ~ Irene Peter
Morning, all!
Fun, fun puzzle today! It took me a bit longer than it should have to figure out what was going on, simply because the title of the puzzle was obscured on my computer for some reason and I actually had to rely on my own brain to suss out the theme (always a risky proposition at best).
A few minor rough spots, including putting in MOSAIC instead of DOMINO to being with. Even when I finally fixed that, I had trouble coming up with MDSE as an abbreviation for, well, anything (let alone "merchandise").
Elsewhere, I knew what Mr. Tchaikovsky's middle name was but always want to add an extra letter or two (ILIACH, ILYICH, etc.)
On an unrelated note, it was nice to see BASSO in the puzzle (my voice part). So often, when the clue calls for a singing part, the answer is either ALTO or TENOR. In fact, I stuck in TENOR this time out of habit and was pleasantly surprised when I had to put in BASSO instead. And yes, the BASSO is always the villain...
Good morning, all.
This was a quick solve. I didn't have any real problems with this puzzle, but I didn't really like it. I'm not sure why. I usually like John Lampkin's efforts. I got the theme early on, and my only over-write was DOGGIE/BOWWOW.
Like Barry, I've usually seen ILICH spelled Ilyich. I guess that's a common problem when translating from one alphabet to another. You can get varying results.
Good morning,
Relatively easy I thought, but a lot of fun. I first got the theme when I pieced together "Wuv handles" and laughed out loud. And I thought 75A "Lab protection org.?" referred to Labradors. Either way works. I sometimes get irritated with references to pop culture, not having an earthly clue who Fran Dreschler is. But I knew Willy Loman, so maybe I'm becoming a curmudgeon. Hey! You kids get off my lawn!
Good morning C.C. et al.
I liked your analysis of this one, C.C. You are right about intersecting theme entries. It is so nice to see them, but they are tough to pull off. This one is just perfect, with no ugly compromises in the fill.
I loved the theme, and chuckled as I filled in the entries. The title sure helped me out, though. When I got SPIN THE BABA I thought I was off and running. But I stumbled over 64D by filling in DINner DATE. So the SW took a long time to clear up.
I thought I was finally out of the woods when I finished that area, but no: I misspelled APHELeON, so it was a rare DNF. You got me, John!!
What a classic fun Sunday with a really cute theme and such a wide variety of fill. It is great to JL back, with his fifth Sunday this year. I guess he has been specializing in the bigger grid. As already mentioned, it gives the room for crosses and other challenges.
C.C. as always you write up was spot on, and thank you both for a great way to start the week.
marti i am sure is as good a bowler as she needs to be.
ciao
What makes "libation" facetious when used as another name for booze?
Good morning C.C. and the gang. Thanks for the great write up.
Lots of fun stuff in this one, but what else would we expect from John Lampkiin. I liked the LEA and MOOS clues, but wasn't fooled by them. I guess I've caught onto your punny ways, John.
Anon @ 8:46, the word 'LIBATION', in the true sense, denotes a ritual pouring (usually religious in nature) or that which is poured in the ritual. Refering to all booze as libations is poking fun at (being facetious of) the solemn ritual that the word should evoke.
Tenbini's toast at sunset might qualify as a libation in the true sense of the word, though.
I thing you could use facetious in the sense of not being taken seriously when using libation's definition of :an act of pouring a liquid as a sacrifice (as to a deity).
I'll drink to that!
Hi There~!
Fun puzzle, as always, from John. My favorite was "WUV HANDDLES", because I thought the "-UV-" had to be wrong, and changed my wUrst to wErst at 'ferst'. Thanks for the write-up, C.C., and the shout out, too - couldn't go yard-saling yesterday, rain....
So that's three puzzles now with a reference to the "1812" composer - there might be a message in that for me; and I did happen to know his middle name, but was looking for that "Y" as well.
PK - regarding yesterday, no, no pimpin' for me - leave that to SNOOP BOW WOW....
Splynter
My daughters studiously avoided baby talk to grandkids and I don’t know if it made any difference. I wuvved this fun Sunday offering.
Musings
-Scary spots in my movies always seem to be in the basement. “Why in the world are you going down there?”
-SNL made BABA WAWA (2:35) very famous
-I didn’t see the PIGS IN BLANKIES yesterday but I did see I could buy a sausage dipped in pancake batter on a stick. The RDA’s made them look WURST!
-If you DRAW ME, I’ll send you a worthless pamphlet for $5.00. Paying someone to say you’ve got potential? Not smart!
-The ROARS of Niagara are on my bucket list and if Cooperstown is in the general area…
-History Channel had the story for the impetus for the Iditarod yesterday. It had many 2 and 4 legged heroes!
-It was hard to tell the ASIDE from the BSIDE on some Beatle records
-Andy Roddick was born in Omaha, is a big Husker fan and is married to her
-OOPS, where is my billfold this morning (or phone, or keys, or…)
-I guess H2O ain’t workin’. Does anyone know of puzzles with numbers and letters?
-I taught APEHELION and PERIHELION for years
-I’ve never seen a customer in our GNC
Good morning everyone. Good commentary, C.C.
Good enjoyable puzzle from John. Cute theme and not difficult. The solve flowed easily. Gimmes included HOH, HONI, and APHELION which occurs next July 5th UT. Had a chuckle with TALUS; was initially thinking about detritus at a cliff face, finally remembered it was the name of a bone. We've gotten into eating SABRA brand hummus. Délicieux. Totally did not get the 'lows' clue @50d, but the perps sufficed.
Have a great day.
A belated Happy Birthday to Annette. We miss you.
Im relaxing sunday morning in my crossword chair trying to get why pos and neg = opps. If im dense as hoh forgive me as its sunday am and i should not be idle. Cam someone clue me yin popeye. Thanks.
Aah. I got it. Nothink like seeing your thoughts in the mirror estee.
A beautiful Sunday, both puzzle wise & weather wise! A fun puzzle!
Happy day, C.C. and cyber friends. Love that you sort all the clechos, C.C. and I'm AWED by JL's WIT.
This was a fun time. WUVHANDLES was my first theme find and made me laugh.
Like Barry and desper-otto, I knew Tchaikovsky's middle name and LOOKed for the Y as well.
What I didn't know was SABRA and still don't understand why it's a native Israeli. Spot order, SIT, also escaped me. Clever!
As always with John L cleverness abounds. Miller's willy, for example, LOMAN, just cracked me up. HAMBONE, too, struck me as very funny. Even the sports fill gently emerged aided by the perps and surrounding clues.
Before DINDINDATE fell in place I tried DANCING___ and DINNERDATE but then remembered the theme.
I've missed you, John L, please don't stay away too long.
I hope your Sunday is wonderful, everyone!
our Sunday L.A. Times puzzle theme was "Bawl Game" and we couldn't find any "piggies in blankies" anywhere. Are you sure you have the same Los Angeles Times paper as we do here in Los Angeles?
This is two weeks in a row that we have had a different puzzle in our paper. The weekly puzzles are all the same as on the internet - what gives!!!!!!!
Sylvia
Sylvia, Sunday's puzzle in the paper is by Merl Reagle. Here on the Corner, we do the online LAT puzzle that is edited by Rich Norris, as are the rest of the week's. We have no clear answer as to why.
I researched SABRA and discovered it's a plant, the prickly pear cactus in fact, and because it is hardy, stubborn and can survive in the desert, the term is ascribed to native Israelis. I don't recall hearing that term before and find it interesting.
Hello Puzzlers -
I'm not proud of this, but I had a Technical DNF today. Needed to turn on red letters to figure out why the SE wouldn't work out. Main problem: DOGGIE. Blasted rappers. Also bollixed at the WUV/LUV area.
Morning C.C., thanks for knowing all the right answers!
Marti doesn't "strike" me as the bowling type. Hell-for-leather downhill skiing, or kayaking, sure. But bowling? Not risky enough! :-)
Hi Everone:
Late to the dance as I had to go to a baby shower at 10:00. Morning showers have become the norm in this neck of the woods. Anyone else aware of this trend? Personally, I prefer an evening affair.
Anyway, great puzzle, John, and super expo, CC. I went astray in several places and had to use red letter help. For instance, instead of UPenn, I had UMinn, then UTenn. Of course, Quaker should have tipped me off, but the brain just isn't up to speed today. I also had pigs in the blanket first, forgetting the theme. And I had Isler brothers instead of Isley. Bottom line, two DNF in a row. Not good.
Looking forward to seeing Sheldon on the Tony's and to the finale of The Killing. The DVR will get a workout tonight.
Have a great Sunday. I hope you are enjoying the same beautiful weather as we have here.
Hey guys.
BTW C.C, how do you like Merl's baseball theme today?
ILICH was a head scratcher when me and Dad solved this in the Argonaut a couple weeks ago.
Hands up if you had ISLE instead of ASIA.
MILD spoiler for next week: Some of you might need to ask the grandkids about two clues involving children's books, BUT don't let them see the filled in middle theme answer, or you'll never hear the end of it.
Anyone follow the Lingerie Football League?
Thanks C.C. for catching the best of my offering. Yes, theme crossings can be good news as in this case, but as C.C. points out it can be a double-edged sword, making the fill difficult. Since I enjoy complexities I always look for theme crossings and use them if they don't complicate fill issues.
So everyone saw spots in front of their eyes? Yuk yuk.
Hey Lemonade, I keep trying to get a Friday puzzle for you to blog, but Rich keeps rejecting my dailies so I'm stuck with Sundays. ;-)
Lucina, it's nice to be missed, but I'm here in spirit. My latest projects have been books of my macro photos of insects. Here in New York the spring has been spectacular and being out every day chasing bugs while working full time doesn't leave time for cruciverbalizing.
Big thanks to Rich for editing, to Annette for beta testing, and to my good bud Gary Soucie who helped with the brainstorming. And thank you all for you warm responses.
Best to you all, and happy solving!
Lemonade @ 8:21, HehHeh, my bowling average is in the gutter. I once belonged to a bowline league, and the only reason they had me was because they needed a warm body to complete the team. I did win a league trophy at the end of the year, for "Most Improved Average". I started out with about an 80, and doubled it by the end of the year to 160....
Marti, you averaged 160 and call that "in the gutter"? My average was 155 and I was trying like crazy and don't ski, mountain climb or all the great stuff you do as our resident Renaissance Woman! You go girl!
What's next, bench pressing 300 lb. and hitting .400 for the Yankees ;-)?
JHello everybody,
Looks like a mostly friendly place to visit. It is my first time here. Is this here every day or just on Sunday. How does one get their name on the post ....and in blue? Is the only format here discussing the puzzle or do you talk about other subjects? Regardless, seems like a fun place too hang out for a bit.
Jamison
Not POS-itive about this, but I believe the (hard copy) Sunday SF Chronicle publishes both the Merl Reagle xword and the online LA Times xword. The (hard copy) Las Vegas Review Journal publishes the online LA Times xword on Sundays. My guess is that it is simply editorial choice.
Favorite answer today was "piggies in a blankie," since it incorporated two of the word themes. Hardest section for me was the SE corner, as I also had Snoop Doggie instead of Bow Wow.
I enjoyed the puzzle and writeup. I always look forward to John L. and C.C. I think both MOOLAH and ILICH aren't the usual spellings.
When I first came west (to seek my fortune), I joined a Hughes Aircraft bowling league. I was partnered with the best bowler since I had never bowled with the big ball. However, I had bowled duckpins and I guess some of it carried over. I kept practicing and improving my average to about 170 and we won the league.
I also went out for a Hughes baseball team. I was doing OK taking batting practice against the coach who had pitched semi-pro ball until he started throwing curves. It was embarrassing ducking away from a curve that started out coming at me and ended up over the plate. So, I politely declined further exposure to his curve balls.
Jamison: Welcome! After the puzzle has been discussed, conversation turns to very enjoyable other stuff. You have to sign up for a Google account with a password to get a blue login name.
Math puzzle: Humphrey and a wishing well
Humphrey dropped a coin down into a wishing well. He heard the splash at the bottom after three seconds. He figured he should be able to figure out the depth of the well. If sound travels at a constant speed of 300 m/s and the acceleration of the coin due to gravity is 10 m/(sec squared), how deep is the well?
marti, you understand that 95% of league bowlers average under 150. of course that is why I said you bowled as well as you needed; hardly in the gutter.
JL, always great to to see you, and thank you for thinking of me, I will have to struggle with some marti, Don g, c.c. and maybe a Mark B., or SJsj until you wear Rich down. let us know when you need to come photograph a hurricane and we will enjoy seeing you.
C.C. - thanks for the shout out!
Where do you get your information lemony?
Great one today. 42A spelling is muddled because of various and imperfect systems for transliterating (not translating) from one alphabetic language to another. Also, note that Russian names do not include "middle names" as we know them. What looks like a middle name is actually a patronymic formed from the person's father's first name.
As for Fido's Easter treat, ham bone did not even occur to me since lamb is a more traditional Easter meat. I have never heard of a "paschal pig" but I guess some people prefer to pig out on ham.
Hello everybody. Such a typically elegant Lampkin work today; I liked it a lot. Laughed out loud at WUV HANDLES. Also wanted that Y in Tchaikovsky's middle name. Took a long time to figure out what the heck OPPS is; wanted IONS there. And speaking of ions, the word ONION (does not rhyme with anion) sure is an example of the vagaries of human language.
For some reason, the classical elegance and inconspicuously masterful workmanship of Mr. Lampkin's puzzles always makes me hear in my mind Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns. It crams a lot of interesting stuff into a compact structure and measuredly understated exposition.
I enjoyed this Sunday puzzle so much! Thanks to John and CC for the challenge and the explanations. PIGGIES IN BLANKIES was my first theme answer, which helped with the rest.
DH and I were at a wedding last weekend, and as the new couple was walking back down the aisle, the wayward ring-bearer TROD upon the BRIDAL CHOOCHOO, and almost pulled that strapless dress too far down! Hilarious! even the bride was laughing as she grabbed at her dress.
In Russian, Tchaikovsky's middle name (his patronymic) is Ильи́ч. I don't know Russian, but it sure looks to me like they explicitly include the ь, which is sorta kinda like spelling it with a Y. The ч is equivalent to our CH.
Bill - I get a little over 40 m
You'll never know how deep the well is without sounding it (or checking DEQ records). The calculation derived from the observation only gets you to the water line, assuming it's not a dry well. And since Humphrey heard a splash not a thud or a plink, it can be assumed there's water in the well.
Always enjoy a John Lamkin and this was no exception! Doable and fun for me, but thought provoking.
C.C.: You always broaden the scope of understanding a puzzle and point out things I've missed. You've changed the way I approach a puzzle on any day. Thank you.
SABRA is a word I learned from reading Leon Uris in the 1960's.
Had to look up O'NEILL and HERSEY, but other names were known or perped. APHELION was new to me so I had to look up to see what letter was in 42. Didn't know the middle name but WAGged "H" and was rewarded with HANDLES.
In our neck of the woods, they don't sell lamb in the grocery stores that I ever saw. So HAM for Easter fits.
Had one DF moment with Miller's Willy. I pictured this guy covered with flour.....
Hi Everyone ~~
What a fun puzzle ... thank you John Lampkin! I caught on to the theme with SPIN THE BABA and really enjoyed anticipating the other theme answers.
I had a few write-overs, including 'Can't I' before CAN WE for 76D -" Please, Daddy." I also thought first of a violin instead of a cello which kept me from getting YO YO MA right away.
I ended with one empty square - just couldn't get the 'I'cross of APHELION and ILICH.
There were so many clever clues but I guess my favorites would be 84A - 'Words often heard before a large number - ONE IN and 114D - 'Like some providers' - SOLE ... for some reason I was thinking along the lines of 'HMOS.'
Loved seeing 'Big Papi' - SOX at 85A. I just finished watching the game - they lost ... again ...sigh. David Ortiz is having a great year, though. C.C. - I thought of you too with this one because of his time with the Twins. I watched Johan Santana's no-hitter the other night. I had forgotten that he also played with the Twins.
PK said it so well: "C.C.: You always broaden the scope of understanding a puzzle and point out things I've missed. You've changed the way I approach a puzzle on any day. Thank you." ~~~~~ I couldn't agree more - I love your write-ups!
PK ~~ I had the same thought on "Miller's Willy." ;-)
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, John Lampkin, for a great Sunday puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for an excellent review.
My first answer was SATES for 11A. Then ALE came easily for 22A. SHADOW BOX was a go for 25A. I remembered SABRA from older crosswords. I had a start in th NE.
Slowly got the themes. They were not easy. Took me forever to get PIGGIES IN BLANKIES. Had DINE IN DATE for a while before I forgot the baby talk idea. Fixed that to DIN DIN DATE. Even though Dine in date sounds like the way to go.
Got TEASEL with perps.
I also wanted a Y somewhere in Tchaikovsky's middle name.
YORK for 108A reminds me of the "White Rose." That is the emblem of the House of York and is also a symbol for York, PA. Small world.
Remembered LOMAN. We have had him for years in crosswords.
Lots of other tough clue/answers. Lucked out and got them all.
Just passed Jamestown, ND. Should be at Minot in less than three hours. Then we work for a week.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
CED, you are correct of course. I meant the distance down to the water level.
I did an old Merl Reagle puzzle from a few months back called "Get Over It." The theme words were all missing three letters. Those letters were replaced by a black square. No big deal. But above the theme words was another word or expression with the three missing letters centered on the black square below. Very clever I thought. Another theme of an older puzzle from the Chronicle of Higher Education had the theme of "The Gateway Arch" (in St. Louis) spelled out in circles with the circles forming the shape of the arch from the lower left corner to the top center and back down to the lower right corner. Would I be correct that Rich wouldn't go along with such 'off the wall' theme ideas?
Bill G.@4:20 CED Correct??? I was going to guess "too deep"!
Thank you john Lampkin for a fun puzzle, i managed to get BaBa, and Choo Choo, but i wanted pizza in a blankie for some reason, & went downhill from there. I parsed Hello Righwawa...
Teasel
Ivy Mike
(gotta go start the Barbie, see ya later)
CC: Couldn`t find where anyone answered your question about the number of people on the ark. Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives, eight souls in all. Sons and the races which came from each: Shem: Oriental, Ham: Negroid and Japheth:Caucasian. The human race almost became extinct but, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."
Interestingly, it had never rained before this time. People found Noah`s message hard to believe but it is always smart to listen to God, just in case!
Wedding Dress Disaster
Libation
Hi again ~!
OK, Bill G, my algebra and quadratic skills are rusty - I have an answer, but now I need to know if it's right....
Jayce, well done with your Cyrillic alphabet - I once dated a Russian girl, so naturally, I tried to learn the language. From what I remember, the "Ь" is an accent in this case, not an actual letter - but still leads to the "Y" spelling I was looking for as well....
Splynter
Did you see the segment on Sunday Morning about Billie D. Harris, killed in action in WWII and his widow who just recently found out the details of his death? Very touching. Also, there was a nice remembrance of Ray Bradbury.
Watching the hydrogen bomb explosion sure brought back unpleasant recollections of the cold war era.
OK, Spitz seems to have a similar answer to mine on the wishing well problem. I got about 41 m. Splynter, what did you get?
I am having difficulty trying to get an equation to work with in the first place - I seem to be missing a factor. My original number was 11m, and that's way too shallow - show me how you both got to about 40m
Splynter
Here's what I did. I'll be interested to see Spitz's approach.
The coin takes t seconds to hit the water and the sound takes 3 – t seconds to travel back up the well. If d is the depth of the well, then d = vt + (gt^2)/2 where v is the initial velocity and g is the acceleration of gravity. Since v = 0, then d = 5t^2. As the sound of the splash travels back up the well, d = 300(3 – t). Therefore, 5t^2 = 300(3 - t). That results in the quadratic, t^2 + 60t – 180 = 0. Using the quadratic formula, t = -30 ± 6sqrt(30). Using only the positive solution, t = 2.86. Since d = 300(3 – t), then d is approximately 41 m.
Let me know if this isn't clear or if you want a reminder about the quadratic formula, etc.
Jamison @ 1:48:
Love your whiskey, man.
PK:
You're 2 for 2. :-)
Ah - see, that's where I couldn't get to a starting point - how to calculate the WHOLE time - I knew the total was 3 seconds, but not how to break it down into the two separate "down and up" pieces; the simple t & 3-t part is what I needed to get started....I am very disappointed in myself....
Oh well,
Splynter
I"m puzzled. My copy of the LA Times today has a puzzle titled "Bawl Game." Interesting and challenging. The solved puzzle has appeared before (Saturday?) and I had fun with it. I live in Yucaipa. Am I getting the same issue of the paper as you do? I enjoy the blogs and look forward to an explanation.
Joel
That's OK Bill. We all look alike.
Joel,
11:43 AM
1:50 PM
Husker G., 160 is good??? I was bowling with guys who consistently hit 200, and I was quite intimidated. And to think that Boomer bowls 300 !!
Splynter - I had the same quadratic as Bill G. Using a trial and error solution, and knowing the total time could not be over three, by inspection, t seemed to be more than 2 and close to three. I started with 2.8 and felt that 2.865 seemed close enough. 3 - 2.865 = 0.135. Multiply X 300 and you get ∼ 40.5.
And now at close of day we have the gate closing ceremony
Windhover: glad you like!
Spitzboov, does your link remind me of something??
Sorry Avg. Joe, CRS again. I can't even get to the end of a post before I've forgotten what I was going to say.
Greetings!
Fun puzzle, John; great expo, CC.
Had a personal Natick at RODDICK and HOMI. So a DNF.
Lots of favorites, like HAMBONE, HELL OR HIGH WAWA, OWLS. Several fills were lucky guesses. Wasn't too sharp last night.
Thanks for puzzle, Bill. (Got it before reading solution.)
Swam today. Dentist again tomorrow, though. (Rats!)
Thanks for reminding me of the Tony's.
Cheers!
Spitzboov, I generally don't come here on weekends, but I was just passing thru, and I managed to see your link on the Gate Closing ceremony, and despite my initial reluctance, I feel I should comment.
The border crossing is the Wagah border Xing between India and Pakistan, about 20 miles From Lahore (2nd largest city in Pak.) and 15 miles from Amritsar ( Sikh holy city, in India.). One country started this aggressive behavior, of self aggrandizement, and the other followed, and the spectacle fed upon itself, and the closing ceremony became a great 'tourist' attraction, for both sides. Observe the stadium 'stands' for about 5000 people on either side ....
However, this does not make for 'good' neighbors, and you will be glad to know, that this spetacle has stopped, since 3 years ago .... and some other 'tourist' attraction will now have to be found for the peanut gallery.
As the adage goes ... Barking dogs (generally) do not bite .... the most dangerous crossing in casualties is the DMZ between North and South Korea, and they do not march in unision out there, at all, if ever ....
Anony mouse - Thanks for your comment. Near the close of the film clip, I noted that the head of each guard unit saluted the other, a sign of mutual respect. The crowd behaved well, also.
Bill. G. Thanks for your "coin in the well" math problem, and the solution, and also Splynter and Spitzboov.
Brought back memories of the Quadradic Equation formula
If Ax*2 + Bx + C = 0
then 2Ax = - B +- Sqrt ( B*2 - 4AC )
The question was simple and uncomplicated, and the answer was also elegant.
Thank you, all.
There is a joke, of an Engineer, a Mathematician and an Economist who were given a stone, a long string, and a stop watch to measure the Ht. of a bldg.
The engineer, using all available tools, ties the string to the stone and using the modified pendulum formula and the stop watch, calcs. the Ht. of the bldg to 200 +- 10 feet.
The Math guy, throws away the string, and using the stone, falling from rest due to 'g', and the velocity of sound, says the bldg is 200 +- 5 feet.
The Economist, throws away, both the rock and the string, sells the stop watch, gets the plans of the bldg. at exactly 200 feet.
I think there is a parable there. The economist only determined what the Ht. was suppose to be, on paper. The other two made a real world estimate.
Was the velocity of sound necessary? Wouldn't he just watch to see it hit the ground?
Heh heh. Good story. I've heard another one like it involving a barometer instead of the pendulum.
I'm glad that those of you so inclined enjoyed the math puzzle. I'll try to come up with some more from time to time.
Really enjoyed John Lampkin's wit, but knew I needed to visit here to fully understand the intrinsic values and effort put forth. Thanks for your write-up, C.C. It made my Sunday experience even better.
Lucinda, thanks for your 11:57 explanation on Sabra.( Knew I must be missing something)
HG, in reference to baby talk...We allowed our children to use wording that was peculiar because we thought it was cute and funny. Found out later they got teased by peers. Examples- 1)They would ask for "dippin" eggs instead of eggs over easy. 2)They would say I'm "broomin" the floor instead of sweeping the floor. Still makes for great memories for us but should have made sure they knew correct wording before facing friends.
BlueIris:
You're welcome! I thought I must be the only one who didn't know that.
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