Theme: "In a Fog" - FOG bookends each theme entry.
23A. Sport on horseback : FOX HUNTING. Is fox edible?
28A. United States Army Infantry School site : FORT BENNING. Outside Columbus, Georgia.
42A. Enjoying one's Jeep Wrangler, say : FOUR WHEELING
65A. Compactly built canine : FRENCH BULLDOG
86A. Procrastinator's problem : FOOT-DRAGGING
107A. Amphibian that glides : FLYING FROG. Never heard of it.
32D. Mail order shipment insert : FREE CATALOG. Victoria's Secret probably has the best catalog.
47D. 1964 Detroit debut : FORD MUSTANG
From
the byline, we can see that Gail came up with this lovely theme idea,
then She and Bruce brainstormed together for the theme answers, then
Bruce did the gridding and filling, then Gail completed the clues.
I wonder if Gail and Bruce ever met each other. They're both so genial, witty & warm. Marti met with Bruce at the last ACPT.
 |
| Gail Grabowski |
 |
| Left to Right: Bruce Venzke, Byron Walden & Rich Silvestri |
Across:
1. Barely sufficient : SCANT
6. It could be a plot : ACRE. Nailed it.
10. Strikes firmly : RAPS
14. Arcade no-nos : TILTS
19. Abbot's underling : PRIOR
20. "I can't deny that" : TRUE. And 63D. Interrogator's demand : ADMIT IT
21. Country singer Jackson : ALAN
22. Three-time Wimbledon champ : EVERT (Chris)
25. Half of 10? : ZERO. The other half is ONE. Love this clue.
26. First name in Olympics perfection : NADIA (Comaneci)
27. Screen pictures : ICONS
30. Give in a bit : SOFTEN
33. "Raging hormones" period : PUBERTY
36. Beast : MEANIE
37. Forgets to mail the mail, say : ERRS
38. Group that meets in the Palais du Luxembourg : SENAT. North of Jardin du Luxembourg. Great picnic and people-watching spot.
39. Reverse, e.g. : GEAR
41. Perfect serve : ACE
46. Out yonder : AFAR
50. Infomercial antitheft device : THE CLUB
52. Tangle up : ENSNARL
53. Tropical rainforest, e.g. : BIOME
54. Formed a clump : CLOTTED
56. Certain extra-base hit: Abbr. : DBL (Double)
57. Comedian __ the Entertainer : CEDRIC
58. Inamorato : BEAU. Never used "Inamorato" in my life.
60. Shine, in ads : GLO
61. Rate of movement : PACE
63. Longtime ABC News chairman : ARLEDGE (Roone)
64. Defer ending : ENT. Deferent.
68. Stylish : MOD
69. Online merchant : E-TAILER. Look at the price for this crossword book. Who can afford it? Poor Argyle is using my beat-up copy.
71. Derisive cry : HOOT
72. Outback sprinter : EMU
73. Deliberate : MUSE.
74. Bolster, e.g. : PILLOW.
75. "Jeopardy!" record-setter Jennings : KEN. Genius.
76. Hangs around : LOITERS
78. Where to learn une leçon : ECOLE
79. Pinkish rash : ROSEOLA. New word to me.
82. "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" author : TOLSTOY. Wiki says it's a novella by Tolstoy, "one of the masterpieces of his late fiction, written shortly after his religious conversion of the late 1870s."
85. Bylaws, briefly : REGs
88. Classic Steely Dan album : AJA
89. Strives : VIES
90. Score after deuce : AD OUT
91. Erode : GNAW
92. Backspaced, perhaps : ERASED
96. Tack room gear : HARNESS
99. Provide juice for : PLUG IN
103. Oktoberfest keepsake : STEIN
105. U.S. Army O-5 : LT COL. Hard for me.
106. One way to stand : TALL
112. Unified : AS ONE
113. Dark-skinned fruit : SLOE
114. Do another tour : RE-UP. This reminds me of the reader who once complained to Will Shortz that GOUP is not a valid fill. She could not find the word in her dictionary.
115. "A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist" author : HOYLE
116. Hauled : TOTED
117. Lunches with mayo : BLTs
118. Pup squeaks : YIPS
119. Out on a limb : TREED
Down:
1. Basker's letters : SPF. I think SPF 30 is enough.
2. Zagreb's country, to the IOC : CRO (Croatia)
3. __-en-Provence : AIX. Hahtoola stayed here for a year or two.
4. Result of a batter "taking the collar" in a game : NO HITS. "Taking the collar" means getting no hits. Here is why.
5. Cease-fire : TRUCE
6. Mail-routing abbr. : ATTN
7. Fridge compartment : CRISPER
8. Aim for an office : RUN. Would be interested to see if New Yorkers are willing to give Anthony Weiner a second chance.
9. Doc's readout : EEG
10. It gets into a lather : RAZOR
11. On the ball : ALERT
12. Spring break fun-lover : PARTY GIRL
13. One often looking down : SNOB. And 15. Donald Jr.'s mom : IVANA. Trump.
14. Brit's sawbuck : TENNER
16. Ushered : LED IN
17. Singer Lopez : TRINI
18. Phase : STAGE
24. Violent opening? : NON. Non-violent. And 98D. Hollywood openings? : ROLES
28. Bashes : FETES
29. Collection of Web pages : eMAG
30. Class assignment : SEAT
31. Gp. with brass : ORCH. Orchestra.
34. Not hitched : UNWED
35. Porsche path : BAHN. Autobahn.
38. More understated : SUBTLER
40. Photo lab prod. : ENL
42. Mel's Diner waitress : FLO
43. Left behind, in a way : OUTGREW
44. Prime rib choice : END CUT
45. Designer __ : LABEL
46. Helping hand : AIDE
48. Baja buddies : AMIGOS
49. Fall back : RECEDE
51. Gulager of "The Virginian" : CLU. Learned his name from doing crosswords.
53. Waffle source?: Abbr. : BELG. Ha ha.
55. Lengthy time : EON
57. Caesar salad ingredient : CROUTON. With anchovies for Bill G, please.
58. Attention-getting device : BEEPER
59. Lure : ENTICE
61. Gave a ring : PHONED
62. Blood typing system : ABO
65. Arctic formation : FLOE
66. Bedroom piece : CHEST
67. Sign of summer : LEO. Zodiac sign.
70. Subjects of complaints : ILLS
73. Dash at the market? : MRS. Mrs. Dash. Great clue.
75. Squishy Hasbro toy used with a launcher : KOOSH BALL
76. Old Nigerian capital : LAGOS. The current capital is Abuja.
77. Taina of "Les Girls" : ELG. Both TAINA and ELG are just hard to remember.
79. Sturgeon yield : ROE
80. Malaysian swinger : ORANG
81. Put in the hold : LADE
83. Ventura County resort : OJAI. Chickie's daughter lives here.
84. [I'm bored] : YAWN
86. Name from the Latin for "I trust" : FIDO. Thought it means "Faithful".
87. Dress to the nines : GUSSY UP
89. Like some brides : VEILED
91. Pursue with purpose : GUN FOR
92. Key of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 4 : E FLAT. Always a ? FLAT for me.
93. 1969 film con man : RATSO. "Midnight Cowboy". Tough to watch, don't you think?
94. Cravat relative : ASCOT
95. Deserved an Oscar, say : SHONE
97. Distribute : ALLOT
99. Farm house : PEN. Is your farm far from where you live, PK?
100. Far from strenuous : LIGHT
102. Accident investigation agcy. : NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)
104. They may be in a jar : TIPS
107. Fish may be served at one : FRY
108. Ring of blooms : LEI. Never been to Hawaii. How much does a lei cost, JD?
109. Deli option : RYE
110. Chihuahua cry : OLE
111. H.S. dropout's goal : GED
Marti
is now in Vienna, after a few days of frolicking in Italy. She attended
a gala on Thursday night in honor of the 50th anniversary of her
friend's company. She said "We were treated royally, as always in
Vienna!" Here she is, looking beautiful in her lovely dress.
They also went to an exhibition of the Lipizzaner Stallions
at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna yesterday. She had a private
tour of the stables and was excited to see those horses in person.
35 comments:
Morning, all!
Got the theme early on and it helped a bit knowing that each long answer started with an F or FO and ended with a G or OG. Mostly uneventful fill, except I didn't understand what "bolster" had to do with PILLOW. A quick trip to the dictionary tells me they are, in fact, exact synonyms, so I just learned something new.
And, like C.C., FLYING FROG was new to me.
ALAN, EVERT, NADIA, CEDRIC, ARLEDGE, KEN, TOLSTOY, HOYLE, IVANA, TRINI, FLO, CLU, ELG [???], RATSO
[ACKVROL]
[dozgen]
Happy Sunday everybody!
Caught on to the “In A Fog” theme pretty early with a WAG at FOUR WHEELING, which helped open up other areas sooner than perps would have…. Is this puzzle an example of Extreme Fog…?
Speed run, for a Sunday anyway. Sort of makes up for Friday / Saturday stumblings. At least I didn’t TAKE A COLLAR this week….
Temporary entries included TEENAGE for PUBERTY, PLUM for SLOE, PEACE for TRUCE, LSAT for SEAT, and LESSEN for SOFTEN….
As mentioned in (WAY) earlier posts, my first car was a red ’65 FORD MUSTANG 2+2 named Betsy. My friends continually needled me re: the “real” meaning for FORD, namely Fix Or Repair Daily, or Found On Road Dead. My Mom wanted to know why I wasted $650 on a “hunk of junk” - Here’s a picture, judge for yourself….
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Gail & Bruce! I figured out the "FO" but not the "G" only after I was done. I had trouble getting a toehold in the top tier, but second time over perped my way through. I think I'm getting better at these in spite of myself. Don't overthink now.
C.C., Great job as always. I didn't understand how a sign of summer could be LEO until you 'splained it. My farms are a three hour drive from my present home. I miss not being able to drive out and see things growing. But I'm closer to family here.
Mustangs were really hot little items the first few years. I think you got a prize, Doc. I was keeping books at a Ford dealership when they came out. The demand was far greater than the production and other dealerships were paying premiums to get them. Fun car! I was excited to get to drive a red one to a distant city and trade for a boring sedan.
C.C., Voters might elect Weiner for the shock value. New Yorkers do things that are strange to us westerners.
Good Morning, C.C. and friends. Like Doha Doc, I quickly grasped that FOG surrounded the theme answer.
I, too, tried Teenage and Plum before settling on PUBERTY and SLOE. I also wanted Answers instead of ADMIT IT for the Interrogator's Demand.
Thanks for the Shout-Out, C.C. We loved living in Aix.
I think MOD was Stylish in the 1960s. Now Mod is more Retro.
My favorite clue was It Could Be a Plot = ACRE.
Nice photos, Marti. Have fun in Europe, but don't forget to come back and join us!
QOD: No one can avoid aging, but aging productively is something else. ~ Katharine Graham (June 16, 1917 ~ July 17, 2001)
[pitacta]
This was no speed run like I had yesterday, but my average time for a Sunday. I didn't have the title, but soon saw that the theme answers started with F and ended with G. BELG waffle took a while. ELG was all perps.
Take a collar was new to me, but NOH led quickly to NOHITS. Has anyone heard Golden Sombrero in regard to baseball?
PRETEEN before PUBERTY.
I looked up the J in AJA and OJAI. Now several hours later they ring a bell. They have been in the LA Crosswords before.
Doha Doc. I agree your Mustang was a cool car. We loved the Mustang when we were young.
Good morning!
LAGOS is no longer the capital of Nigeria? I guess it's time for a new globe.
My ROSEOLA started out as ROSACEA. Otherwise this was a smooth top-to-bottom solve.
C.C., I notice that the Crosswords for Dummies book is only available from "third parties." While it was in print it probably sold for $9.95. I see that it was written by "renowned puzzle creator", Patrick Berry. Is he still around and writing puzzles? His name isn't familiar to me.
C.C., I see you interviewed Patrick Berry back in 2009, but you mention he doesn't write puzzles for the LAT. My bad.
We've discusses OJAI before as the home town of Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers, the six million dollar man and bionic woman.
My high fashion website would be here
Musings (I tend to MUSE)
-A mud draped FOUR WHEELING vehicle ain’t fun to have parked on your block
-I had to raise my voice to a FOOT DRAGGING lady last week. I had heard her excuses three times before.
-Victoria Secret catalog – talk about your SCANT!
-No one’s gonna ADMIT IT and STAND TALL if a lawyer is standing by
-So, that raging hormone thing is supposed to end ;-)
-British golf announcer describing a well hit putt, “Oh, that had lovely PACE”
-KEN has the eidetic memory Sheldon Cooper claims to have
-It took cwd experience for me to get the aJa/oJai crossing
-After 42 yrs of teaching middle school, I decided to not RE-UP
-A BLT is a sandwich and a PEN is not a house here
-An “O-fer” is another hitless performance. Oh for 3, Oh for 4, etc
-OUTGREW – “Puff you’ve been a great magic dragon, but I’ve discovered girls!”
-Answer to yesterday’s Dr. BEEPER question - He was the judge’s (Ted Knight’s) playing partner in the golf match in Caddyshack against Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield)
-Lookin’ Good Marti!
-Off to Lincoln for Father’s Day here
-Happy Father’s Day to all you other dads!
Not much traffic on the blog today. I'll bet you are all off celebrating Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all of you fathers and grandpas out there. We will have our celebration next Saturday along with my older son's birthday. He was a Father's Day present to us and his younger brother was a Mother's Day present. Two of the most special gifts ever.
Hola, C.C. and all others. C.C., I would agree with you on the strength of the SPF except that I live where the sun is extremely intense and penetrates through clothing. 50 is recommended here.
Happy Fathers' Day to all you dads, granddads, and stepdads!
Well, parts of this puzzle put me in a FOG, although I grokked the theme early on, I had LEAST not SCANT and never rechecked it.
And 109D looked like Dell not Deli so I fretted until finally looked up HOYLE and finally saw the i in deli. I also had ABC instead of ABO. Sigh. Not enough coffee I guess.
Still this was fun with very few write overs, PACKING SLIP before FREE CATALOG, TOWED then TOTED when ASCOT became clear. And I mistakenly filled NSTB until realizing it should be NTSB when walking TALL appeared.
Out on a limb, TREED
half of 10? ZERO
were fun clues.
Have a terrific Fathers Day you who celebrate and a super Sunday to all!
Got up at 4:30AM so that I could drive my 15 year-old daughter and her friends to register and enter a 10K race in downtown Chicago that started at 8AM (nothing like waiting til the last minute). Watched the race, then came home, did the Puzzle. Now off to my 13 year-old's Pony League game in 85 degree heat with no shade. Really looking forward to eventually coming home and watching the US Open.
Never got the theme, but finished nonetheless.
Have a Happy Father's Day to all the other Dads out there!
Just lurking today, way too much stuff to do, fishing, powerwashing furniture, getting presents......(woohoo!)
BillG, (yest,) Awesome meal, (i would have picked a different appetizer tho,,,) but what the heck are smashed potatoes??? (delicately mashed potatoes???) The rest of it sounded great! I would be jealous except I had shrimp cocktail, lobster, potato salad, & greek salad for dinner. (oh yeah...) Oh, & apple pie for dessert. (I'm hoping DW gets sausage w/peppers & onions for tonite...mmm,mmm,.
Argyle! The golf game is giving a freebie for Fathers day, a new swing meter! Plus you can play Marion for free all weekend!!!
DohaDoc@6:23, 65 Ford (sweet!) but where are those side panel air vents? (& it really bummed me out when the next year they made the side vents fake, & backwards. But ya just gotta love the SOUND OF THAT BEAST!
Hmm, wait a sec,,, I wonder,,, but what booze to choose,,, Tequila? No,, Scotch? (Nah) port wine! Oh yeah, over a slightly squished baked potato! The perfect smashed potato!!!!
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Gail and Bruce, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for the fine review.
Got started fine in the NW. One error there for a while. Had FRIAR instead of PRIOR. Fixed after a while.
FOUR WHEELING was my first theme answer. Helped with the rest.
Liked ZERO for half of ten. Held off writing in FIVE until I had a crossword. Glad I did.
Been through OJAI while living in California. Never worked there, though.
A BLT is about my favorite sandwich. No Mayo for me, though. I always order " no mayo."
No idea who Mrs. Dash is. Must be on an ad.
Never saw the movie Midnight Cowboy. I know RATSO from the crosswords.
Fun puzzle. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(strithse)
Hi Everyone:
Happy Father's Day to all the Dads.
Nice job, Gail and Bruce. Cute theme and some clever cluing made for a fun romp. Great expo, CC, as always.
Nice pictures, Marti; we miss you here and on WWF.
CC, the picture of the baby and the Bulldog is precious.
Happy Sunday.
TTP:
I am going to send you an email when I get to a place where I can do that. I am having major problems with my cell phone. Will explain.
Abejo
JJM @ 11:20 - Me thinks someone is going to nod off during the US Open after his early start and hectic pace of his day! (-:
@ Abejo 11:29 a.m.
Mrs. Dash is a seasoning brand name.
Bruce Venzke constructed the Washington Post crossword puzzle today also.
Man, this was NOT easy.
DNF for 2 letters. bIOME and bELG.
FEtES and SENAt.
I guess I wasn't on Gail and Bruce's wavelengths today
Entered and erased BULLDOG twice.
Hand up for ROSEacea. too.
C.C. thanks for that baseball link.
Both of my brothers played pro ball and I have NEVER heard "take the collar"
Happy Father's day all you Dads!!
CED, the side vents were added in later years. 65 and 66 side panels were "clean." Bullitt's Mustang is a 68....
Hi All ~~
I started out slowly ... for 1A- Barely sufficient - I could only think of scarce and sparse and it was some time before the light dawned. My only write-over was at 16D - 'Ushered. ' I had 'Let in' before NADIA gave me LED IN.
After getting FOXHUNTING, I had to remind myself that not all theme answers began with FO- sometimes the "FOG" was split in different places! Most of the names were familiar so I was able to finish with no look-ups.
~ I, too, thought of 'Rosacea' before ROSEOLA.
~ FRY fit at 107D but it didn't seem right.
~ I liked the misdirection of 74A - Bolster/PILLOW and 110D - Chihuahua cry/OLE.
~ The 19A meaning for PRIOR was new to me.
~ Nice pic of Marti ~ hope she's having fun.
~ I enjoyed your write-up, C.C. I know a lot of baseball terms but both "Taking the collar" and "Golden sombrero" were learning moments. Thanks for the interesting info!
Happy Father's Day to all the Corner Dads!
That was a fun Sunday puzzle, as always when I see Gail and Bruce's names at the top. Dunno why but I had a hard time parsing BELG at first. Thanks for the enjoyable writeup CC.
We bought a used 1966 Mustang that we loved for a long time. My son eventually took it over. Dunno where it is now.
CED, their version of smashed potatoes is much lumpier than normal mashed potatoes. They offer either depending on the particular entree. Whatever they serve is OK by me. I'm anxious to try their sole and their ribeye steak another day. BTW, that appetizer is just a little freebie to start with.
Abejo, we love BLTs too, mayo and all.
I got a nice long distance call from my Oregon son. Our local son and daughter brought over a middle-eastern chicken lunch.
FORD= First On Race Day.
Smashed potatoes= potatoes mashed with the skins on.
We finished lunch and I went upstairs, starting to watch the Dodgers game. Lucas, Bonnie's boyfriend's five-year-old son, came up and wanted to play a game. So we tried Othello. He was doing OK with some help from me. After a bit, he seemed to be getting bored. I asked him if he wanted to stop. He said, "OK, let's pause it."
Hi, all!
Happy Father's Day!
Thanks for pictures of Gail, Bruce and Marti!
A perfect Sunday, but took way to long! Thanks, Gail, Bruce and CC!
Especially liked ZERO. Never heard of AJA.
Have used lots of MRS. DASH products as I cannot take much sodium. Was raised essentially w/o it.
Am looking forward to Sergeant Lewis on PBS tonight!
Cheers!
(What's with these 4 identical anonymous posts?)
I'll take out three of them.
Argyle, re: World Golf Tour
The new swing meter is a waste, & you only get to use it 200X
Merion has got to be the hardest course since St. Andrews. I never would have known without World Golf Tour. I have never seen the ball do so many buttonhooks on the green. The biggest disappointment was the basic set of clubs you get will not even get you to the fairway on the 1st drive..
Double bogey'd every hole...:(
You are so right!
The US Open was a real groaner--an exercise in humility for the world's top golfers. Justin Rose & Phil Mickelson are two great golfers and good guys, so I stayed with them to the end. I reached the point where I hoped they didn't have to play extra holes because it was so painful.
My middle "baby" brother had a great Father's Day present: a new grandson, born a month early. He also had a granddaughter born in April. This brother was born when I was 11 and I rushed home every day from school to feed & cuddle him. He turned out to be a good loving husband & father. He'll be a wonderful grandpa.
In re "Messiah" in last week's puzzle, I know Messiah is often a non religious reference to a secular savior, probably based on the common religious reference. I have been searching for references. Tonight on 20/20 the Barcelona soccer player, Messi was referred to as the Messiah because he has saved the club.
Link Messi, the Messiah
Yellowrocks, I have a feeling the one and only reason Messi was referred to as Messiah was nothing more than news media hype and the tendency for headline writers to loo for linguistic rather than factual expressions.
Good Evening all,
Just had to do a fly-by to say how much I enjoyed today's CW. I wanted to put my daughter's name in re: "raging hormones", but it wasn't long enough! I too tried TEENAGE & PLUM like others, but figured those out in the end. Lost in a fog indeed.
Happy to see crispy yesterday & crisper today, as Crispy was the name of the best Jack Russell terrier I have ever owned. We both resided outside Fort Benning while I managed a large foxhunting barn there.
Love me some Steely Dan!
Thanks Gail & Bruce!
Crispy
YR, it was 60 Minutes, not 20/20.
Hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day! Particularly enjoyed Fort Benning, got it immediately. Our son spent a year there after graduating USMA West Point. Very proud to say that. Enjoyed the puzzle. Have a great week!
D-Otto,
I wonder why they don't reprint the book if it's so popular? I bought mine for $9.99, I think.
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