Words: 72 (missing B,F,J,Q)
Blocks: 29
Cool looking grid with a
couple of "arrows" shooting out from the center, but alas, I was not on
the mark today - SE corner had a few unknowns for me, and so I had to
resort to red-letter assistance. This is the fourth LAT Saturday for
Mr. Healy, and the first one for me. Triple stacks of 10's in the
corners, even pairs of triple stacked 7's down the sides. Some that I
thought worth mentioning;
15A. Without a firm grip on reality : IN LA-LA LAND - why, I do believe our Linda can be regularly found here ~!!!
14D. Picked up at a cocktail party? : SPEARED - those little hot dogs in a bun/pigs in a blanket, and a toothpick; for those who were curious, I can be picked up at cocktail party, too~!!! (I'm the one not drinking)
59. Pub diversion : TRIVIA GAME
- I was thinking DARTS, BILLIARDS, etc. Back in my drinking days, I
would sit with a beer and a game console and play for hours
38. Gulf of Finland republic : ESTONIA - map
oNwArD~!~!
ACROSS:
1. No ordinary joe? : MOCHA LATTE
11. Fabergé egg decor : GEMS
16. Slightly off : ALOP - our "A" word for the day....
17. Mad about : REALLY INTO - got it right the first time
18. "Handwriting on the wall" word : MENE - new to me; more here
19. Pre-date stop-off, maybe : ATM - well, I did try FTD to start; the middle "T" stayed
20. Poet whose muse was Maud Gonne : YEATS
21. Rodeo catcher : RIATA - oops, not LASSO
22. Reneges, with "out" : COPS - oops, not OPTS or NODS
24. Bloemfontein's country: Abbr. : RSA
25. Coot : GEEZER - I like Terry "Geezer" Butler, bass player/song writer for Black Sabbath; here's a clip of him with Ozzy and Slash on guitar
26. Garden bulbs : LEEKS
28. Fits behind the wheel? : ROAD RAGE - the --ADR--- was there, and I tried HEAD ROOM; seemed to make sense to me; we're looking for the temper tantrum kind of "fit"
30. Terrier on "Frasier" : EDDIE - took me a minute to remember
31. Hardly a Brown cheer? : AAUGH - this refers to Charlie Brown, and Peanuts, which I don't read, watch or care for
32. Hot __ : ROD
33. Nearly extinct island language : MANX - Isle of Man; more here
35. New Mexico county or its seat : TAOS
37. Word in a manual size description : YEA - it was about "yea big"
40. River valley silt : LOESS
42. Register button : TOTAL - this just wouldn't come to me
46. "No kidding!" : "IS THAT SO?"
48. Avalanche : SPATE
49. Odorless gas : ETHANE - aren't they all? That 'odor' is added to propane and natural gas for safety reasons
50. Oscar winner Lee : ANG - filmmaker; I was just thinking I have never actually seen "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
53. Málaga title: Abbr. : SRTA
54. "Paint Your Wagon" composer : LOEWE
55. "Things fall __; the centre cannot hold": 20-Across : APART
57. Squat : ZIP - this gave me fits, too - SIT, no, NIL, no....
58. Genetic lab samples : DNAs - Dah~! I started with RNAs, and messed up my 37D.
61. Run out of steam : TIRE
62. Queen Mary, e.g. : OCEAN LINER
63. Stable diet : OATS
64. Top-notch : WORLD CLASS - great fill
DOWN:
1. Wonder : MIRACLE
2. Like some salamanders or sloths : ONE-TOED
3. Held in place, in a way : CLAMPED
4. Prince in both parts of "Henry IV" : HAL - Sure, OK.
5. One working with you : ALLY
6. Coat : LAYER - semi-clecho with; 7. Cover : ALIAS
8. Horn blast : TANTARA
9. Blast causes : TNTs
10. Shogun's capital : EDO
11. More like venison : GAMIER - I have had deer; it's good
12. Biblical priest whose name means "God has helped" : ELEAZAR
13. __ Bay: Jamaican resort : MONTEGO
21. Tongue-tingling candies : RED-HOTS - I love cinnamon
23. Take from the top : SKIM
25. Loopy : GAGA
27. Prevailing winds help determine one : SEA LANE
29. Alibis : OUTS
31. Good fellers? : AXES - HAR-HAR~!!!
34. Bill : NOTE - as in money
36. Conciliatory offers : SOPS
37. Lose the battle with : YIELD TO
39. Good way to be young? : AT HEART
41. More in need of rinsing : SOAPIER
43. Los Angeles neighborhood that's the former site of an Edgar Rice Burroughs ranch : TARZANA - Funny, as the only thing I know about Los Angeles is their LA TIMES crossword, and the next clue is....
44. On occasion : AT TIMES
45. Ballerinas, often : LEAPERS - yeah, they do this, but I thought it was the "10 Lords-a..."
47. Anchor-chain openings : HAWSES - Learned this from a
crossword here, about a year ago I would say, in a discussion with
Spitzboov, who nailed the next one, too, I'll bet -
51. Like some blockades : NAVAL
52. Coffee selection : GRIND
55. Chevron rival : ARCO - came via perps; I knew it wasn't "ESSO"
56. Gentle application : TALC
59. Pull : TOW - Literally; nothing to do with influence
60. Jazz pianist Evans : GIL - Played with Miles Davis; more here
"MAY the Fourth be with you~!"
Splynter
52 comments:
liaudeThis was my fastest Saturday in a while. It was challenging, but I made very steady progress.
I puzzled over AAUGH for a while. I wondered what Brown U. had to do with it. I knew it came from Peanuts, but I didn't connect that. Thanks, Splynter.
I had GILT before GEMS, but ELEAZAR corrected that. GEMS is a better answer, anyway.
Being a PK we joked that the writing on the wall, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, u-Pharsin." from the Book of Daniel was "Meanie, meanie, tickle your parson."
EDDIE was all perps.
I recited the ABCs to get the Z in TARZANA and ZIP.
I liked MOCHA LATTE, ZIP, AXES, and ALIAS.
Have a great Saturday. I will spend the day looking through old financial records to take to the attorney. Thanks again for cheering me on.
I think this is the first Saturday that I have ever worked in entirety w/o running out of patience and using no cheats of any sort (at least in a long time). This means many of you will have found it to be very easy!
Loved ROADRAGE (almost immediate after first R). Have always liked Peanuts!
Time for beddy. Hole where molar was hurts. Darn.
Happy weekend! (Misty, hope you caught my really late Friday blog.)
Frasier was the best TV comedy ever to grace the video-waves! I still watch reruns. You are missing something, YR! Good luck with the attorney!
Morning, all!
I somehow managed to finish this one assisted, but it was definitely a challenge...
I've never heard of a ONE-TOED sloth, and apparently neither has Wikipedia.
Had GILD and then GOLD before GEMS, and therefore had a LOT of trouble seeing SPEARED and ELEAZAR (who I only barely remember from my Bible thumping days). In fact, with MONTEGO thrown in, the entire NE corner was a bear for me today.
Had no idea what a "Brown cheer" was, and I read the clue to mean the answer was the opposite of whatever a Brown cheer was. What's the opposite of something I don't know? I tried LAUGH.
LOESS and LOEWE were buried deep in the basement of my cerebellum and were very slow to resurface.
Can you really pluralize DNA? Or TNT?
Really, really wanted POP ROCKS for 21D, but it didn't fit. REDHOTS tend to burn my tongue, not just "tingle" it.
On the bright side, I learned that ETHANE is odorless. I wonder if I'll remember that bit of trivia for next time?
[jnaryia]
Sorry, make that "unassisted"... ^_^
Good morning, weekend warriors!
I found so many places to go astray today: TWO/ONE TOED, NIL/ZIP, TIRE/FLAG, BOWS/COPS. But it was Kansas that caused the most trouble: A_UGH. I guess the Brown cheer could have been AN UGH, but I was pretty sure the cross was TANTARA, so that would result in AAUGH???? Those weren't the droids I was looking for. I finally let it stand and came here for elucidation from Splynter.
YR: Liaude! Is that a Manx expletive or a misplaced Captcha?
In my hen-scratching MOCHA LATTE looks a lot like NONCHALANT. What is CHALANT, anyway?
Splynter, you were educational and entertaining, as always. Mr Healy, I didn't recognize your name, but I'll remember it next time for your WORLD CLASS TRIVIA GAME.
Hi Y'all! TANTARA, TARZANA, ESTONIA, ELEAZAR, MONTEGO...come on, Honey, we go! Sounds like a Beach Boys puzzle to me. WORLD CLASS, maybe, Frederick J.
Splynter, thanks for explaining. It was a MIRACLE I got through this. Just did GRIND away at it, but I had to YIELD to a red-letter search AT TIMES because I was in LALALAND from lack of sleep.
Splynter, since you're not drinking does this mean a girl would be safe to hitch a ride home without danger of getting SPEARED?
Hands up for thinking Brown U., not Charley. Wondered what University was AAU?
Loved the clues for AXES & ROAD RAGE! Giggle!
ALOP? Really? Come on....
Just finished the late (after 2 pm) posts from yesterday.
YR, now I understand why you're poring through financial records for the attorney. Best of luck fighting the bureaucracy. Your governor seems to be a sensible guy. Have you thought of writing him directly?
Fermat: "D-O: Do they still kill girl babies in India? So very sad." Where the heck did that come from?
DO, I think Fermat was referring to a book Anonymouse said he was reading about Indian infanticide.
Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
I had a lot of blank areas on the first pass, and didn’t have any warm and fuzzy feelings about the entries that I did make… I didn’t “get” “Word in a manual size description” until I read your comment. OH! So we’re not talking about a written manual, but using the hands to manually show how big something is!! Boy, do I feel stupid!
Loved the clue for ROAD RAGE, because it gave me fits before I finally got it!
Good luck with the lawyer, YR.
It’s going to be a beautiful weekend here, so I’ll be outside in the gardens. Hope yours is pleasant as well!
My son wanted their prom theme to be Star Wars since today is May the Fourth. Alas evening in Paris won out.... Sporcle.com has a new badge in honor of today-"Let the Wookie Win" you can only get today by playing 3 of the Star wars quizzes like: http://www.sporcle.com/games/Hejman/thats_no_moon
Barry, I'm with you. I can't find find any reference to one-toed sloths or salamanders. Can anyone else?
D/O and Marti, thanks. I'm sure
our dear Gov. won't help with Medicaid.
Yesterday morning I attended a meeting with other parent advocates concerned about losing the shletered workshop. If these educated, articulate people are haing problems, what about the others who are not so up on things?
Good morning everyone.
@ 51a, yes, Splynter, I did nail HAWSES and NAVAL which kept me from segueing into LA LA LAND. The puzzle was really 4 mini puzzles; the interconnection among the sectors was very weak. Got AAUGH without understanding it. I liked most of the clueing and most of the fill but did not like the clue for
LOESS. The clue implied it is peculiar to river valleys or formed by riverine mechanics. It is not. Loess is an aeolian (wind blown) deposit and not alluvial. Where found it can be in valleys, hill tops, and broad areas in between. It would have been much more correct to simply clue it as "silt deposits."
Broad areas of our Midwest and northern China are covered in loess.
No searches were needed.
I needed help in the middle. I had ?AUGH but couldn't get the first letter. Nor, could I get the second letter in 'Good Fellers" going down. The rest came section by section for me. A DNF for me today.
I like Revolutionary (3) & Orb (16) today in the Derby today. Exacta is 3 & 16. Varrazano (14) has a great shot as well.
I was able to find an online reference to a one-toed salamander. But I couldn't find anything on a one-toed sloth. Maybe he's an amputee, having stuck his toe into somebody else's business.
G-spot helped me finish ELEAZAR, LOEWE and I kicked myself for getting help on TARZANA – DOH!! They unlocked what was left of this fine puzzle.
Musings
-ALOP not AMOK, ROD not DOG, COPS not OPTS, TANTARA not FANFARE, SEA LANE not HEADING,
-I think most of us would be pretty good at TRIVIA GAMES
-I thought GEMS would be part of the décor not the décor itself
-Our bulbs are as confused as we are about this cold spring
-AAUGH drove me nuts but had to be. I’ve read Peanuts since my salad days and still…
-The wind and cold made me TIRE on the links yesterday
-Seinfeld – “Every time I paint my apartment, I feel sad because it gets a little smaller”
-MONTEGO BAY (2:59) – Good music and pix
-RED HOTS and my tongue don’t get along
-I will always be YOUNG AT HEART (act like I’m 14) according to the woman to whom I am related by marriage
-Fellers didn’t fool me, just like Flowers and Numbers
-Yup, HAWSES and NAVAL reminded me of our resident mariner Spitzboov
Hi again~!
PK, that depends on which RIDE you're talking about....
Splynter
I think I try Saturday puzzles just to read Splyter's expo intelligently. Today was a DNF.
I don't remember ever eating RED HOTS. Must have tried them as a little kid.
There is a video on YouTube about a rare one-toed sloth in Costa Rica.
A family member (by marriage) has a horse in the Kentucky Derby today. All Montanans who follow horse racing are excited. He's really a long shot. Hope he doesn't take last.
Not at home. On my way. 200 mile drive.
Montana
Have not attempted the puzzle yet, still trying to get thru my chores. I came across something in my Email this AM, & wonder if you would not mind my experimenting on the Blog...
I get Popular Science magazine, & they always email me more stuff. Today I saw this article on test taking, & thought it might appeal to some of our teachers on the Blog. But I am not sure the link will work because I think you have to be a subscriber. Pls let me know if you can open it.
(& if you can, this is the newsletter. with even more interesting stuff.)
If you cannot open it, my apologies for wasting your time. Please accept this link of a truly remarkable Brooklyn home .
Oh nuts, I just noticed the Brooklyn Gingerbread house is a Daily News article, which will probably get blocked. Here, try this truly remarkable artistry with shadows instead.
I don't know if this link will work for you. It's an image from this morning's Houston Chronicle. This was taken at the NRA convention in Houston -- 70,000 expected to attend. Isn't that cute? Even a seven-year-old can be taught how to handle a Sig Sauer. On a similar note, there was an incident a couple of weeks ago at our little town's elementary school when a kindergartner brought a pistol to school for show-and-tell. When's it gonna end?
Good morning:
Kudos to Mr. Healy for a Saturday stumper (for me, anyway) and thanks to Splynter for a great expo. Other than that, Thumper says it all.
A local trainer has a horse in the Derby, Normandy Invasion, so I'll root for him. Not sure what the early odds are today, but I think I heard 12-1 yesterday.
Our beautiful Spring weather continues. Bill G, are those fires abating at all?
Have a nice Saturday.
CED - Test taking. The link worked fine. Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
CED@10:44
The first link opened and I'm still reading it. Interesting.
CED, only this is the newsletter got blocked. That article on the UCLA prof was very interesting.
Same here.
Well, I thought at first this was going to be a no-starter, but using Marti's advice to be patient and go one little step at a time, I actually got the whole bottom half before I had to start cheating. It helped that I know my YEATS (wonderful poet!). My biggest problem was putting EBENEZER instead of ELEAZAR for the Biblical prophet. All that religious education let me down a bit this morning.
Still, a fun puzzle, so thanks Mr. Healy. Splynter, your Peanuts cartoon cracked me up, as did your "May the Fourth be with you." LOL
Thanks, Fermatprime, Yellowrocks, JD, Lucina, Bill G. and others for your kind wishes yesterday. We have our regular weekend caregiver today, and will manage okay with some substitutes next week. All your kindness helped me get through a rough day yesterday.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Spitz, my first reaction to "River valley silt=LOESS" was like yours. Then I rationalized it this way. Most solvers would accept, "Pests at a picnic=ANTS." But, there are other pests at picnics, such as wasps or the amped up music next door. And then, ANTS are found at other places, too.
When I looked into LOESS I found that large amounts of LOESS, are found in midwestern river valleys, especially, the valley of the Mississippi, making the clue even more reasonable, although loess is found in other places, like IOWA, as well.
I learned that most sites define LOESS as aeolian (wind blown), but some geologists are discussing alluvial LOESS, stirring up a controversy.
This is much more fun than sorting my financials. Well, my respite is over. Back to boring work.
Yr - Thanks for taking the time to comment on LOESS. Any student of geomorphology knows that loess is defined in a wind bolwn context, and deposits are generally found near the margins of the antecedent glaciation. Some loess may be found in valleys but it got there by wind deposition; not through a water deposition mechanism. Here is a map depicting loess distribution in Europe. Note the extensive deposits in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. However the mapping shows a general lack of deposits in the river valleys. A smidgen of alluvial loess is shown (green). However, it is still a wind blown material; inferred to have been 'scooped up" from a riverine or deltaic source which was presumably unvegetated at the time and then redeposited.
Well, I finished the puzzle (if you could call it that), started red letter with my usual Saturday optimism, twice across & down & started hitting the solve button for any names/places I knew I had no chance of solving, & then continued on with what was left, which for me, turned out as hard as all those names/places I never heard of...
Hmm, I guess I need a new acronym specifically designed for CED. Instead of DNF, how about DNHSCH?
(Did Not Have (a) Snowballs Chance (in) Hell).
I suggest we adopt it, unless you want to hear the above crap typed every Saturday from me...
Why do I torture myself? (For the learning, of course!) & the hope that some day I will do a Saturday unassisted.
18A Handwriting on the wall=Mene, (seen it on the Blog b/4,but forgot.) I had Men's ( Oh, Sorry,,, that's handwriting on the door...)
25A Splynter, nice link, Bass with a WaWa pedal? I never would have thought of that!
Hello Puzzlers -
A walloping DNF for me today. That NW quadrant beat me up and took my lunch money. MENE was one of those that I couldn't grok even after the machine filled it in for me. I guess my head just isn't with it today.
Cheers All
This puzzle defeated me. I had to look up so many answers that it might as well have been a DNF. And I still don't understand YEA. Well done, Mr. Healy.
Otto, keep politics off this blog!! NRA members have legal guns and teach their kids to respect guns and use them safely. Those gang bangers in Barry Obama’s hometown are setting records for shooting each other and innocents with illegal arms in Chicago, which has the most restrictive gun laws in America. Cue the crickets from the White House.
Ah, okay, I have now read your terrific writeup, Splynter, so I now understand YEA, as well as much else. Thank you for contributing so much to our Saturday morning pleasure.
For me, today's gimmes were LOESS (remembered from prior puzzles, where else?), MONTEGO (been there, done that), and LOEWE (in my field). The rest were hard-wrought, won with difficulty.
I was particularly dismayed by AAUGH. I got it but couldn't see the sense of it until reading Splynter's explanation. Now of course it makes fine Schulzian sense. SPATE was new to me, but it's always a plus to gain a new word.
I just know when the second bomber was on the run last month and the city went into lockdown, my gunless neighbor asked if he could hole up in my house house with my guns. We've gone to the range twice since then and he is deciding which gun he intends to purchase. My advice? Buy both!
p.s. He has three kids and a wife and has decided his house will be safer WITH the guns properly stored than without any guns.
Heard this conversation many time so far today.
Hello, Weekend Warriors! And a special greeting to you, Splynter, for enlightening me.
This gave me WORD RAGE so many times as the misdirected term was always on the tip of my cranial lobe but took too long to sidle out.
That and the telephone call at 7:00 but I can say it was an entertaining challenge. New England was the first to fall as MONTEGO Bay and ELEAZAR slipped in then SPEARED made me LAUGH which is what I had instead of AAUGH so DNF there.
I returned to bed, felt more refreshed later and traveled to the bottom, SE, where I changed TUG to TOW, saw ARCO and ANG Lee then finished the rest.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is spectacular for the scenery and the karate (I think that's what it is) if you are into that. After seeing it in the theater I bought the DVD and have enjoyed watching it again.
YEA made no sense until Splynter's explanation, thank you. I've heard people say, "when I was YEA small."
Alaska almost gave me a headache until realizing that JOE referred to coffee then MOCHA LATTE fell in as MIRACLE and most of the other letters were there.
Much to learn today, the origin of TARZANA, MENE, sloths and salamanders are ONE-TOED. I simply typed in the clue and a relevant site appeared.
This was a WORLD CLASS puzzle. Many thanks, Mr Healy.
And you all have a splendid Saturday!
Yr:
I was distressed to read about the cutbacks to your son's benefits and sincerely hope you succeed in having them restored.
Our governor herself has a disabled son but she still hasn't decided about Medicaid.
Hello again. Saturdays are never good days for me crossword-wise. But with some appropriately-colored help I got 'er done. I didn't care for TNTS either but if that what it took to make the grid come together, then I can live with it. Maybe Fred included GEEZER just for me.
Irish Miss, the fires are still bad but the next couple of days should provide a little wetter weather that should help with the fighting.
Anon (12:53), guns are politics too? Desper-otto expressing his frustration at a bad situation is nothing to get too excercised about.
Hi Everyone ~~
Reporting in from LALALAND ~ thanks, Splynter. ;-) This was quite the Saturday challenge for me, but I managed to finish with just one wrong square. I didn't know ELEAZAR or MENE and guessed an 'I' where they crossed.
The rest filled in, but there were a number of things I didn't understand, including YEA, MANX and AAUGH. Splynter, you enlightened me in many places ~ loved your write-up!
~ My Faberge egg had a 'Bead' before GEMS, and for 56D - Gentle application, I had 'Daub' before TALC.
~ Even though I struggled in places, I really enjoyed solving this ~ thanks, Frederick J. Healy.
~ Favorites: 'Fits behind the wheel' - ROAD RAGE and 'Picked up at a cocktail party' - SPEARED.
~ Misty - I'm glad things are going better for you and your husband today.
~ Yellowrocks - my best to you in dealing with your difficult situation.
~ Kentucky Derby ~ hmm - guess I'll have to go with a long shot, #15 - "Charming Kitten. =^..^=
Enjoy the weekend!
BillG typed 'guns are politics too? '
Really Bill? Haven't you watched the news lately with Obama on stage with all those props...er...children behind him? Gun rights are probably the most divisive issue facing Joe Biden and MSNBC. And then there is Michelle's ridiculous comment "I mean, every single kid worries about their own death, or the death of someone, every single day". My kid's biggest worry is who is texting him at any given moment.
D-Otto: That nicely staged photographed you linked is indicative how one side is using "the children, Oh the children" to influence an otherwise normal discussiion of the issue. Kid, guns and a perfectly posed NRA bag all in one picture? Wow, call the pulitzer people!
Hold your guns! Let's change the subject. This is getting unpleasant.
Thanks Montana for the one-toed heads up. Here's the video.
Gotta get back to some race prep.
I'm rooting for Java's War.
How are all the SWEET people¿
The Kentucky Derby, Yum!
What? Did the French pick the sponsor?
Well, the race for the roses is history. I didn't think ORB had a ghost of a chance. I was rooting on Verrazano to bridge the gap with Normandy Invasion poised to land at the finish line first.
Splynter: Yeeeehaw, Cowboy!
Those sure are beautiful animals; the thoroughbreds that is.
The sloth isn't so beautiful. I've wondered if it's possible for them to move fast, if scared for example. I remember Kristen Bell was talking about how much she loves sloths and ended up in tears.
More about Sloths than I ever wanted to know...
Oh, & Splynter, nice write up, but,,,
31A You do not like Peanuts? or Charlie Brown? Ok, I can live with that, but if you said you don't like Linus, or Snoopy! Then I think we really need to re-evaluate our relationship!
Now, if you said you don't like Vince Guaraldi,,, then it's over man...!
Oh well, Splynter,, I guess I have to thank you, I just watched a 22 minute peanuts episode I had never seen before!
There were so many things I wanted to point out, but, I guess, you are either a peanuts fan, or you are not...
(note, for the peanuts fans,,, @3:00 & 6:00,,, & again at.... ) Oh well,, you know...
Thank you, D/O for the pic of the one-toed salamander. Interesting, but weird.
Also thank you, Montna and Revolutionary for the one-toed sloth pic. It had to be seen to be believed.
I like the odd bit of info. we can pick up here.
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