Theme: STAGE DIRECTIONS : Each theme clue has two parts - the first part clues the "stage" upon which a particular athlete plays a sport, the second part is a straight definition and the two-word answer forms a new noun.
17A Tennis player’s meal request? : COURT ORDER
20A Ping-Pong player’s etiquette? : TABLE MANNERS
36A Runner’s music choice? : TRACK RECORD. I thought at first that this was a little too close to the sport in the clue, but then realized that if you use the "body of work" definition of the phrase it fits perfectly well with the rest of the theme.
53A Golfer’s bank advance? : COURSE CREDIT
58A Football player’s map? : FIELD GUIDE
Hi Gang - Steve here, pinch-hitting for Marti who is saying "Buon giorno, Italia!" today. There wasn't much of a musical nature in the puzzle today, so I'll use Marti's Italian trip as an excuse to post today's ear worm!
Nice work here from Julian, five snappy theme entries with the top and bottom pair partially stacked - I always find that impressive! Some nice long downs too, so plenty to like. Let's get started!
Across:
1 Desktop offering an AppleCare warranty : iMAC
5 Man of la casa : SEÑOR. I know that in French you don't use diacriticals on capital letters, but I'm not sure if the same rule applies in Spanish. Throwing the tilde in here just in case.
10 Chew : GNAW
14 Wine lover’s destination : NAPA. If you've not seen the movie "Bottle Shock", it's definitely worth checking out - it's based on the true story of the "Judgment of Paris" competition that put Napa wines on the international map. Very entertaining.
15 Micronesian nation once called Pleasant Island : NAURU. I confuse my Micronesian islands and my Indian Prime Ministers, so I wait for the perps.
16 San __, Italy : REMO
19 Announce assuredly : AVER
22 Worshipers of Quetzalcoatl : AZTECS. Of course they are. And OLMECS doesn't fit.
25 Fry’s former BBC comedy partner : LAURIE. Hugh appeared with Stephen both in their own show, and with Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson in one of the funniest comedy series - "Blackadder". It was odd at first to see him playing a straight role in "House".
26 Renaissance painter Uccello : PAOLO. Crosses and more crosses.
27 Genuine article? : THE. Great clue!
30 Close of “Albert Nobbs” : GLENN
31 Coin first minted in 13th-century France : ECU
32 Movie trainer of Daniel-san : MIYAGI. The "G" here was the last letter to fall - the cross with EGEST didn't help at all - I'd never seen that word before. Something of a WAG between G and K.
35 Clause joiners : ANDS
39 Grammy winner Erykah : BADU. Crosses again!
41 Corners : HEMS IN
42 Producer of wall flowers : IVY. Nice cluing again, and it made me revisit my assumption that all ivy is green and non-flowering.
45 Area of activity : ARENA
47 Old speedster : SST. Sadly, I never got to fly on Concorde, the Supersonic Transport jointly developed by the British and the French. I heard it plenty of times though - I used to live under the flight path into London's Heathrow Airport and Concorde was LOUD!
48 Bath-loving Muppet : ERNIE
50 Make even smoother : RE-SAND
52 Span that can’t be shrunk : AGE GAP. This caused me some confusion - I had 44D as YES and was scratching my head wondering what the heck an AGEGAS was.
57 Ovid’s others : ALII Needed to fish in my Latin memory banks. We studied Ovid back in High School - his poems were pretty racy; there's nothing like a bit of sex and sizzle to get schoolboys concentrating on their translations! Caesar's "Conquest of Gaul" was another one to get the adolescent attention - that seemed to be all battlefields and sex.
62 “Oh, criminy!” : RATS
63 Totally enjoy something, with “up” : EAT IT
64 Muddy up : ROIL. I didn't know that this specifically meant "muddying the waters" - I always thought roiling waters were simply turbulent. Nice learning moment for me.
65 Quest after : SEEK
66 Event with buckjumpers : RODEO. Another new term for me. Is this the same as a bucking bronco?
67 “__ said!” : 'NUFF
Down:
1 IRS concern : INC. I wish they weren't so concerned about my income and let me keep more of it.
2 Familiar face in Tiananmen Square : MAO. The square itself is enormous and Mao's portrait looks down from the northern side at the entrance to the Forbidden City. When I visited in 2008 I was intrigued by the presence of a green Astroturf basketball court located through the arch below Mao. I think it must be the only turf court in the world and the location is certainly incongruous!
3 Homer’s doughnut supplier : APU. Proud owner of Springfield's Kwik-E-Mart and purveyor of the finest victuals to the Simpson family.
4 Trustbuster’s target : CARTEL
5 High-horse sorts : SNOBS
6 Rank above viscount : EARL
7 Feature of Manet’s “The Luncheon on the Grass” : NUDE. I wasn't sure why the title of the painting was translated, but realized that French in the clue would imply a French answer, and that's not what's needed here. I found this version which made me laugh:
Translations: "Hey boys! Come and see all these magic mushrooms!" - "Cool! Here, take the weed, it's kick-ass" - "Sheesh, this is it - I'm stoned" and finally "I think I forgot something - but what?"
(Note from C.C.: I don't get the joke. What made Steve laugh?)
8 Provo neighbor : OREM
9 Bucolic : RURAL. Nice tie-in with 7D
10 Like table salt : GRANULAR
11 Interminable : NEVER-ENDING
12 Language family spanning two continents : AMERIND. This came together on its own - it's not a term with which I'm familiar. It appears to be something of a discredited theory that the individual languages can actually be grouped together in a formal way.
13 Declines : WORSENS
18 Washington city : TACOMA. I first came to know of Tacoma by way of a physics lesson and the Tacoma Narrows bridge breaking up due to resonance at a certain wind speed.
21 Badger : NAG
22 Copycat : APE
23 Tween heartthrob Efron : ZAC. More crosses! I excuse my ignorance of Mr. Efron's first name, I'm a little older than his fans.
24 Immediately : TOUT DE SUITE. This foxed me for a little while - for some reason I had TOUTE SUITE stuck in my brain and couldn't figure out why it wasn't going to work when I had TOUT already filled in from crosses.
27 Little ones : TYKES
28 Damages : HARMS
29 Spew out : EGEST. New word for me, and as previously noted the G was my last letter fill due to the MIYAGI perp at 32A
33 Freud’s I : ICH. It's a good job I already had the "I", otherwise I'd have confidently filled in EGO and left myself with a mess to fix. German, Latin, Spanish, French and English today.
34 Fifi’s here : ICI. More French on our pentalingual Thursday.
37 Gamble : RUN A RISK
38 Small flash drive capacity : ONE GIG. I guess "gigabyte" doesn't need an abbreviation indication in the clue as the contraction is so common now.
39 Where some commuters unwind : BAR CARS. I used to commute on a train with a bar car and it was full of regulars. Sometimes I'd purposely miss my station because I was enjoying the company and get the next train back.
40 Biological rings : AREOLAE. Yay! I get to post the blog's famous (and quite delightful) link. In the meantime here's a teaser ..
43 Flight connection word : VIA
44 “Sure thing!” : YEP
46 A or B on a test, maybe: Abbr. : ANS is the answer you're looking for.
[A style question for the constructors amongst us - do you prefer to clue without using the "Abbr." clarification? Something along the lines of "A or B on the CSAT, maybe:"? The same question for 55D - maybe "Like so many Fla. snowbirds:"?]
49 E-filed document : RETURN. Sent to my good friends at 1D.
51 Shelve : DEFER
52 Increase : ADD TO.
54 “Later!” : CIAO
55 Like many snowbirds: Abbr. : RETD. I guess you can't use AARP in the clue as "Retired" is part of the acronym?
56 Wiesel who wrote “The Night Trilogy” : ELIE
59 Promising paper : IOU I enjoyed this one!
60 Brief dissimilarity : DIF, as in difference. As an ex-computer coder, this one came naturally - we used to 'DIF' two versions of a program to find the changes made in the newer version. It sounds about as exciting as it was.
61 Brownie, for one : ELF
I think that's a wrap - thanks to Marti for traveling today and giving me a bonus Thursday to write up!
Steve
40 comments:
Morning, all!
Challenging, although ultimately rewarding, puzzle today. I almost turfed it at the crossing of BADU (whose name I can never remember) and TOUT DE SUITE (which I only know as the Americanized TOOT SUITE). I finally came up with BADU, though.
Only minor nitpick was with APU as clued. It's been awhile since I watched The Simpsons regularly, but I'm pretty sure Homer gets all his donots from Lard Lad and not from the Kwik-E-Mart. Could be wrong, though...
[prozaha]
Good Thursday morning to all. The derecho has passed Chicago. All clear here. Be safe to those still in harm's way.
1hr, 11 min, 21 sec. Started off flying and got COURT ORDER and TABLE MANNERS very quickly. Slowed down in the middle with uncertain fill (HARMS or HurtS) and unknown 'Fifi's here' ICI. Good thing Mr Miyagi came to mind. DW really likes that movie. Finally saw TRACK RECORD.
nuts to RATS, ateit to EATIT.
West and Southwest were the toughest for me. AZTECS APE ECU ARENA RESAND and SEEK all came easily enough. Then got BAR CARS and RUN A RISK, but TOUT DE SUITE was not coming toot sweet. Finally got COURSE and then guessed at AREOLAE. The D in BADU was my last fill and gave me the TA DA !
My brother used to say toot sweet all of the time.
There were a lot of unknowns that had to get filled by perps and guesses. Never heard of NAURU. Was clueless on 25A LAURIE. PAOLO was a wag even with PA_LO. Felt smart when I solved 'Brief dissimilarity.' Good long clue for short answer.
'nuff said ! See all y'all later.
How long before we see DERECHO in a puzzle?
OOPS ! Thank you Julian Lim and thank you Steve. Great puzzle and great write up.
I agree on THE and IVY also having great clues. EGEST was unknown but solid with perps.
Weird Al Yankovic sang EAT IT to the tune of Michael Jackson's Beat It. Either version is an ear worm.
Argyle, I'll say 163 days.
Good Morning, Steve and friends. Fun "sports" puzzle. I liked the puns and was able to get all the theme answers even though I am not big on sports.
I was reluctant to answer IVY, not having seen flowering ivy before.
Hand up for wanting EGO instead of ICH.
My initial thought for the Table Salt was Iodinated instead of Granular. Of course, my answer was too many letters.
I laughed the photo of the dog taking the cookie off the table.
C.C. ~ The joke is that the woman forgot to put on her clothes.
When TTP mentioned the Derecho yesterday, I thought it was a word he was making up! Sorry, TTP! Stay safe, everyone.
QOD: I always have a quotation for everything ~ it saves original thinking. ~ Dorothy L. Sayers (June 13, 1893 ~ Dec. 17, 1957)
[ansltst]
What a freakin disaster! After flying through the North, I came to a screeching halt.
TOUTDEGUIDE, PAOLO, BADU, MIYAGI (should have remembered him) , LAURIE, etc all were ?????????????.
I'm so disgusted with myself right now, my next attempt at a puzzle may be a few days away.
And after watching every second of the Bruins OT loss last night, costing me a lot of sack time, my mood is really "terrific" At least Mari's DH is happy the Hawks won.
A difficult puzzle for me, though I got a solid 72%. Thank you Steve, for a very informative and entertaining commentary. I guess you have to be able to understand Italian, to make Pavarotti's aria, an earworm.
Table salt is a regular face centered cubic lattice (fcc)- but I guess the small (fine)size makes it granular - in a conventional sense.
Not familiar with Miyagi - which movie ?, Badu and Bar cars, and 'Tout De Suite'.
In my newspaper, the clue of "Freud's I" came out like "Freud's |" .... the small print, crude font and my poor eyesight made an easy clue, extremely difficult !
Nauru, an island close to, and for some time administered by Austr. has one the largest concentrations of rock phosphates in the world. In 1960's and 70's , with a popln. of ~9,500, they had one of the highest per capita incomes in the world - which they frivolously spent away. Now, totally dependent on Australia.
Have a nice day, you all.
Good morning!
Things did not go well with this one: tout De suite was tout Le suite. EGEST started out as EJECT. When HEMS IN showed up, I let the "J" stand, so MIYAJI was still wrong. Didn't take very long, but the result was a double-DNF. Shame on me.
Hand up for EGO before ICH. Didn't last.
I had to let the perps decide between ONE MEG and ONE GIG. My first computer had an 8K (8192 byte) memory.
I learned what a derecho was last year on July 4th weekend in western Virginia. The formal definition is that which causes rain to fall sideways, wind to blow furiously, lights to fail in city after city, and drivers to keep driving long into the night looking for a motel with the lights on.
Hahtoola,
Thanks. I thought it's sort of drug joke.
Julian Lim,
Can you email me (crosswordc@gmail.com)?
Musings
-I knew TOUT DE SUITE that I couldn’t spell this and didn’t know Erykah something or other, so I’ll take one bad cell and move on with my life
-Every puzzle this week seems to have had one “off the wall” word like ASGARD, BLAT, NAURU, etc
-Someone will have to explain to me why so much fuss is made over the Mona Lisa when there is so much spectacular Renaissance Art out there
-Glenn now regrets Fatal Attraction role
-Trying to HEM IN this cat is an addictive game
-Depending on your perspective, the most famous IVY is on walls at Wrigley FIELD or here
-AGE GAP – Emma knows that Papa will always be 50 years older than she is
-New form for disgraced IRS – Line 1 – Enter how much you made. Line 2 - Send us amount on Line 1
-That picnic girl is certainly a good sport
-Our RURAL area is lush green and no pivots have turned yet
-In a Truth or Dare game, always inappropriate Amy asks Bernadette how large her AREOLAE are. Welcome to 21st century TV
Good morning everyone.
WES. Had the same problem as Barry with TOUT DE SUITE. Nice to see AREOLAE again. Always nice to see Areolae. Vowel rich.
Thought of ego, too, before HEMS IN indicated ICH.
Enjoyed the theme.
Argyle pondered "How long before we see DERECHO in a puzzle?" . Probably about the same time we see thixotropic or rheopectic.
I'm saying sooner. Six months. Just saw it today in a story about the U.S.Open at Merion C.C. in Ardmore, PA.
Hatoolah,
Derecho was a new word for me until a couple of years ago.
All,
I've been meaning to ask... Is this woman's manner of speech particular to a geographic area ? Northern New England perhaps ?
So that's it
PS. We have "Americanized" so many french words an phrases that if tout de suite becomes toot sweet, that's fine with me. It would be easier to spell.
Note: We do not have derechos (oes?) in Texas. Down here we call 'em frog stranglers. We do get the occasional twister or hurricane, though.
Thanks to both Julian and Steve today--both were fun. A few name challenges to slow me down too, but I wagged and perped the lot.
I met someone from Nauru once in Oz. But that's all I remember about him.
I got this The Chalk Guy is Back link in an email today--lots of fun!
TTP, are you thinking of this ? Toot Sweets
Toughie today. I knew Miyagi (from Karate Kid movies), but was clueless as to spelling. Valiantly tried to make "toot suite" work.
Alas.
Hi Everyone ~~
This was a bit challenging in a few places and I ended up finishing with one wrong letter. At the crossing of MIYAGI and ICH I had an A instead of an I. For that I say "ach!" Should have known that!
~ As others have said, there were many foreign words that needed perps but no Naticks (except the one I created for myself).
~ I started 29D with 'Eject' but then remembered EGEST from other puzzles. AMERIND was new to me.
~ I managed to pull out TOUT DE SUITE from my 8th grade French class.
~ I always chuckle when I write in AREOLA(E) because I know what's coming ~ and Steve gave us a bonus!
~ Favorites: Producer of wall flowers - IVY and Promising paper - IOU.
~ Thanks for a fun puzzle, Julian Lim and thanks, Steve for a most enjoyable write-up - I like your style!
Enjoy your day - it's gray and very rainy here.
Hi Y'all! A Julian Lim puzzle is always a good Thursday for me. Thanks!
Thanks, Steve. Always a treat to get your perspective. I had problems in the same areas you did. That center section was almost my nemesis. But I finally got it.
In the SW BARCARS didn't come easy, probably because I've never been on a commuter train. Also wanted SAND it and "egad". TOUT SUITE came to mind but until I said it out loud, the DE evaded me.
40D I thought was some kind of tree rings but couldn't think of a word.
Spitz: Vowel rich? Ho ho! Reminds me I need to book a mammogram.
Ivy has flowers? I couldn't access Hahtoolah's link. I finally decided maybe the clue meant "flow--ers" since the tendrils flow all over the buildings.
I'm trying to remember if "Survivor" was filmed in NAURU one season. That could have boosted the economy. Couldn't remember ever hearing of it or BADU.
Hello, Steve, and fellow puzzlers. I, too, like your style, Steve, thank you.
Yowza! Am I the only person who does not know TOUT DE SUITE?? I had no idea what I was looking for and wasn't sure if the painter was PAULO or PABLO, Finally I looked it up and still the phrase made no sense. Erykah BADU is quite famous so I've seen her name.
So, except for the SW corner, I sashayed through the rest. LAURIE and GLENN were easy but I wasn't aware of ERNIE being such a bath lover.
The theme was clever as were clues for AGE GAP, NAG,and IOU.
Hand up for EGO before ICH, ERUPT, then EGEST, and ORBIT exchanged for ARENA.
Derecho is a Spanish word meaning right, as in, to the right. All day yesterday I waited for some meteorologist to explain why a storm would be called that so thank you, desper-otto, for finally offering the description. I had not heard of it.
My 16 year old granddaughter thinks ZAC Ephron is the bees knees so that was an easy fill.
Happy Thursday, everyone! Today is our sorority lunch for the month's birthdays.
Good Morning:
Great puzzle, Mr. Lim, and super expo, Steve. Thanks for bringing some sunshine into my soggy morning with one of my favorite arias, tenors, and conductors-a triple whammy!
Hand up for ego before ich. This was a DNF as I had ejest, not knowing Miyagi. The southwest gave me fits, but I finally solved it. I thought this was a tougher than usual Thursday offering, but I did enjoy it, except for that one miscue.
Have a great day.
Good afternoon, everyone! Very enjoyable puzzle – thanks, Julian. Terrific write-up, Steve; you always add a fun touch.
Got held up by the same unknowns that a few others mentioned – NAURU, EGEST and AMERIND. Also fell for the EGO/ICH trap. Thought the clues for short answers IVY, IOU and DIF were very clever. Here’s a sample of my favorite Fry and LAURIE series (3:34). I have a couple Jeeves and Wooster books loaded on my Kindle to read on the road.
Looking forward to the crab leg feast tonight at the restaurant across from our rental condo. I’ll definitely have to rein in the appetite when we get back home … so many goodies, so little time!
Have a fabulous Thursday, all!
I always know it's going to be an enjoyable toughie when I see a Julian Lim puzzle, and this was one, for sure. By working patiently, I actually got almost all of it, in time, except for the DE in TOUT __ SUITE and the D in BADU. Not bad for a Thursday Julian Lim--many thanks. Steve, I loved that dog with the cookie, and I'm glad you recommended "Bottle Shock" to people--a delightful movie.
My ear worm of the day: ERNIE singing "Rubber Ducky."
And, like Hahtoolah, I had no idea ivy could flower.
Have a great day, everybody!
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Julian, for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Steve for the excellent review.
This puzzle went well for a Thursday. A few tough ones. Got it all except TOUT DE SUITE and BADU. Had the BA and U. Had most of the long one, but had to cheat a little to get it.
Off to my chores in Johnsonburg.
Mari:
Johnsonburg is in Elk County, PA, which is in the NW quadrant of the state. Elk County supports the only elk herd remaining in PA. We border the Allegheny National Forest. Johnsonburg is where the East and West branches of the Clarion River come together to form the Clarion, which flows to the Allegheny, which becomes the Ohio, which flows into the Mississippi. Nice old small town. We have a paper mill in Johnsonburg that keeps the town alive.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(numakfac)
Steve: Forgot to mention how cute the picture of the "Cookie and the Canine is. Another ray of sunshine in Waterworld today!
Steve:
I forgot to thank you for Nessum Dorma which I absolutely love!
Even if I don't know the Italian words, the music stays. It's a good ear worm.
I usually like Julian Lim puzzles, but not today's. Total DNF, with 3 FIW answers. NAORU, TOOT SWEET, and BALU were my down falls. I didnt care for the theme (there was one?) either. So, I will chalk it up to a bad day, and move on tomorrow.
Hi, all!
Finally got it after a rather long struggle. Had many of the problems mentioned above.
Thanks Julian! Steve, you made my day! Great expo!
Off to rheumatologist today.
Found out pool will not be ready for several more days. Evidently it takes quite a while for acid to balance in a saltwater pool.
Cheers!
No love for my girl Erykah?
pick your afro cause its flat on one side
See ya Next Lifetime
Some live stuff from Java Jazz Festival
Near thing! You looked like spam and I almost deleted you.
Watching the clips now, Thnx.
Tough puzzle. I didn't know NAURU, BADU, EGEST, etc. so it took a while, appropriate for a Thursday. Fun writeup. Thanks Julian and Steve.
Gary, I've played that Cat game many times. Very clever and addictive. At first I could never beat the cat but now I almost always win. I think you can always beat the cat from the given starting position but I could be wrong.
Kazie, I saw the Chalk Guy create one of his painting on the Redondo Beach pier about a year or two ago. It took all day. It's interesting that the finished product only looks good from one POV.
Happy Thursday everyone!
So tantalizingly close, I could smell the cohiba. But no, had the same Waterloo as most of y’all at the crossing of TOUT DE SUITE and BADU. I knew how the former was pronounced, just not how it was spelled…. So frackin’ close….
WEES re: EGO and EJECT (and tree rings for that matter, but I like the puzzles ANS much better….)
Black Adder – second only to Fawlty Towers ( Farty Towels? Flay Otters? Flowery Twats?) as the funniest Brit Com ever…. imho….
I liked the theme, but the fill had too much French & names for me to find enjoyable. Another red letter day...
I have never seen flowering ivy, (looks like morning glory to me...)
& if Steve can regale us with an Opera earworm, I must respond in the most sinister, diabolical,, evil way possible!
(just kidding Steve...)
Happy Thursday, all!
I take issue with the name if the theme, "Stage Directions." My field is theater, so unless the answers are ENTER RIGHT or EXEUNT OMNES, I don't count them as authentic stage directions. Maybe it should have been "Place Markers" or "Field Events."
This one started slowly for me, got slower in the middle, then all came rushing through at the end. I think it strange when the finish boils down to all the most OBVIOUS answers. I thought of REMO long before I filled it in; likewise for APE, NUFF, IVY, ECU--all either repetitions of recent answers or calling to my intuition.
The only stinker was ICH. I too thought EGO should be the fill for "Freud's I" -- a very clever misdirection, echoed in ICI ("Fifi's here"). I mean who but Freud would have another word for "I"?
As for AREOLAE, I can never remember how to spell it right, so the word gave me maximum flexibility in the SW corner, where I needed it.
Hola Everyone, Julian Lim's puzzles always give me a run for my money. However, I was mostly on his wave length today with the exception on putting in Erupt, then Eject before coming up with Egest. If I had spelled Miyagi correctly that might have helped. Sigh.
Hands up for Yes instead of Yep. But that quickly was fixed when Age Gap finally fell into place.
Amerind, Badu, Paolo, were also unknowns, but they all fell into place with the perps. All in all a track record for me finishing a Julian Lim puzzle with just a few erasures.
By the way, Amerind is not liked by spell check!
Thanks, Steve, for filling in for Marti today. I enjoyed the "ear worm" while reading the blog. I found several other pieces to listen to on the same site.
Have a great day, everyone. Wish we could all follow Marti to Italy.
Vidwan 827, Interesting facts about the Island of Nauru. Thanks.
Our Ivy tower at San Jose State University is now Ivy-less. The vine was making our landmark tower prone to cracks and deterioration, so off came the ivy. It is still a beautiful landmark on campus, but I loved it ivy-clad.
Kazie--Amazing art work.
Lucina, I thought I was the only one who didn't know the phrase, Tout de Suite!! Welcome to our club of two? I also wondered why a storm would be called a "Right" storm. I thought maybe it was taking a right turn every time it hit a new city. LOL.
Awkward Father's Day photos. Slide show.
Somebody sure knows how to bring the conversation to a screeching halt!
Another quiet day at the Corner, nice to see you LLL, enjoying the Bosox resurgence? I have the Marlins...
Well almost time to work on next time.
AMERIND is just AMERican INDian.
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