Words: 72 (missing -) Pangram~!
Blocks: 27 (second lowest total I have seen)
I came up with very
little on the first across pass to work with, but a few Wild Ass
Guesses got me enough perps to finish this one, and in a pretty good
time, considering. Intimidating corners with triple 8's crossing triple
9's, but then again, nothing bigger than those - and not much to say
about them; pretty straight forward.
Onward~!
ACROSS:
1. Busted : FLAT BROKE
- about how I'm feeling lately; two weeks to the new UPS contract, and
possibly a FT position doing what I do right now; at the very least, I
get a union scale raise.
10. Jag : SPREE
15. One who may confuse cees and zees : LIP READER - I can "see" that
16. Extinguish : QUELL
17. Torn to bits : IN TATTERS
18. Non-union? : UNWED
19. Architect awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993 : PEI - I.M., designer of several well-known structures
20. Angels Landing's national park : ZION - Anyone care to visit Utah?
21. Latin case : DATIVE - nailed it - 4 years of Latin in high school
22. The Panthers of the Big East : PITT
24. At all : ONE BIT - Did I give up on this puzzle? Not ONE BIT~!
26. Apt., e.g. : RESidence
27. Holders of notions : ETUIs - Saturday level attempt to obscure "needle case"
29. Slight : SLUR
30. Provide an outlet for : VENT
31. Sale indicator : RED TAG
33. Cubic measure : STERE - a cubic meter, 1.3cubic yards, about 35.3 cubic feet - for cordwood
35. Dragged through the mud : SMEARED
37. Send to the bottom : SCUTTLE - Reminds me of "Hunt for Red October"
41. Drew in books : NANCY - Didn't fool me; Nancy Drew, the proper name
43. Where the heart is : THORAX
44. Quick hits : JABS
47. Markers : IOUs
49. Volleyball great Gabrielle : REECE
50. Surfer's destination : URL - ah, not WEB
51. Trip with a per diem, perhaps : JUNKET - def #3:
10. Jag : SPREE
15. One who may confuse cees and zees : LIP READER - I can "see" that
16. Extinguish : QUELL
17. Torn to bits : IN TATTERS
18. Non-union? : UNWED
19. Architect awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993 : PEI - I.M., designer of several well-known structures
20. Angels Landing's national park : ZION - Anyone care to visit Utah?
21. Latin case : DATIVE - nailed it - 4 years of Latin in high school
22. The Panthers of the Big East : PITT
24. At all : ONE BIT - Did I give up on this puzzle? Not ONE BIT~!
26. Apt., e.g. : RESidence
27. Holders of notions : ETUIs - Saturday level attempt to obscure "needle case"
29. Slight : SLUR
30. Provide an outlet for : VENT
31. Sale indicator : RED TAG
33. Cubic measure : STERE - a cubic meter, 1.3cubic yards, about 35.3 cubic feet - for cordwood
35. Dragged through the mud : SMEARED
37. Send to the bottom : SCUTTLE - Reminds me of "Hunt for Red October"
41. Drew in books : NANCY - Didn't fool me; Nancy Drew, the proper name
43. Where the heart is : THORAX
44. Quick hits : JABS
47. Markers : IOUs
49. Volleyball great Gabrielle : REECE
50. Surfer's destination : URL - ah, not WEB
51. Trip with a per diem, perhaps : JUNKET - def #3:
a trip, as by an official or legislative committee, paid out of public funds and ostensibly to obtain information.
53. Suffix for some lotions : DERM - Lubri-DERM, e.g.
54. Floors : AMAZES
56. Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," e.g. : IDYL
58. Better : TOP
59. Brought down : RAZED
60. Whatever it takes : AT ANY COST
62. Small-capped mushroom : ENOKI
63. Reassure : PUT AT EASE
64. Quick reads? : ZINES - abbr. for magaZINES, hence the "?"
65. Like some questions : OPEN-ENDED
DOWN:
1. Seal features : FLIPPERS
2. Budget entry : LINE ITEM - tried MORTGAGE first
3. It's tested in school : APTITUDE - nailed it
4. Melodic bit : TRA - more Saturday obscurity
5. Carl who played Donna Reed's TV husband : BETZ - WAAAY before my time; IMDb
6. Currency exchange market listing, e.g. : RATIO - total WAG here
7. Classic theaters : ODEONS - with a modern take in the next clue...
8. Movie concession stand remnants : KERNELS - Corn, scuttled in the popping machine....
9. Hosp. areas : ERs
10. Position behind the plate : SQUAT - the physical position, not the player's
11. Football option : PUNT - PASS, KICK, RUSH; had to wait
12. Replace the old connections : REWIRE - been there, done that - now that that apartment remodel is over, I am stepping away from carpentry/construction for a while; gonna try something new
13. Ones seen side by side? : ELEVEN - 1 and 1 = 11~!
14. First in line : ELDEST - that's me~!
21. Nonstop : DIRECT - Ah, not RED-EYE
23. Cronus and Hyperion : TITANS
25. Objections : BUTS
28. Actress Gilbert of "The Big Bang Theory" : SARA - lots of fans of "TBBT" here, but count me out; just can't get into it
30. Shot down : VETOED
32. Brainiac : GENIUS - most of the cast of "TBBT"
34. One of Duisburg's rivers : RUHR - I had R--R; guess what? I got it
36. Anti-rodent brand : D-CON
38. Arboreal hopper : TREE TOAD - 'round here, we have tree "FROGS", but they're insects; speaking of what we call things here on Lawn Guyland, I had to find out why "straw" is not the same as "hay"
39. Wisconsin city on the Mississippi : La CROSSE
40. Given a pass, in a way : EXEMPTED
42. Bust a gut : YUK IT UP - either you got it, or you didn't
44. Eponymous 1850s-'70s Mexican president : JUAREZ
45. Snazzy suit : ARMANI - some day I will sport an Armani suit
46. Embellish showily : BLAZON - my high school denim jacket was emBLAZONed with Iron Maiden patches
48. Tranquilize : SEDATE
51. "A __ Fury": "Star Wars" DVD segment : JEDI'S
52. English critic Kenneth : TYNAN
55. The Cowardly Lion, back in Kansas : ZEKE - worked on the farm in "The Wizard of Oz" - he knew the difference between the two~!
57. Suffix with electro- : LYTE - ElectroLYTE - like you'd find in Gatorade - I frakkin' needed fluids this past week, let me tell you; finally got a massive thunderstorm midday Friday - aaaaaah
60. G.I.'s address : APO
61. Fivescore yrs. : CENtury; 5 X 20
Splynter
Happy Saturday everybody!
ReplyDeleteSaturday solvable, but not by me. DiZZied, puZZled, and eventually muZZled by missing 2 of 3 ZedZ in SoCal....
Lots of do-overs today: RMS for RES, SLAM for SLUR, SCANS for ZINES, WIN for TOP, REBEL for UNWED, POPCORN for KERNELS, NAYS for BUTS, and FLATEARS for FLIPPERS....
Favorite answer: ELEVEN....
PER DIEM is nice, but you must QUELL the urge to SPREE and stay within your LINE ITEMs....
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteRemember when I said yesterday's puzzle was pretty easy for a Friday? Well, this one was pretty hard for a Saturday. *OUCH*
I have to wonder where I managed to pull ZEKE out of, but that was about the only gimme today.
Having TREE FROG instead of TREE TOAD really messed me up in the SE for quite awhile. Didn't help that TYNAN was a complete unknown (I tried TYSON for a while, just for the heck of it).
I did finally manage to guess JEDIS at 51D solely due to the subject matter, but I have to say... if you need to refer to a specific segment on a DVD in order to clue an answer, you should probably just rework the entire section to come up with a different answer. Grump, grump, grump.
I'm not sure why, but the NW was the hardest section for me today. BETZ was just insane, but fortunately I have heard of ZION National park (although "Angel's Landing" was a mystery). Everything else up there made perfect sense once I finally got it, but I struggled getting every answer. Again, I'm not sure why, since the clues don't seem that obscure...
[seylob]
the SW corner stumped me...interesting that iron maiden patches are used as an example/explanation for 'blazon'...during one of the band's non-dickinson incarnations, they had a singer named 'blaze' bayley, so maybe there was something subliminal going on there
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle seemed intimidating, but I solved it in just under my usual Saturday time with several write overs. I was so sure NON UNION had to be REBEL (Wouldn't that be a good clue?) and SLIGHT had to be SLIM. Both were clever clues.
ReplyDeleteI had EXCEPTED instead of EXEPMTED so that was the last to fall. Splynter's definition of JUNKET included the word ostensibly, how true. We pay for their vacation.
Donna Reed has been back in reruns many times. They dressed so formally in those days, even at home.
I'm not a fan of TBBT.
My son and DIL cook witall kinds of mushrooms, so I knew ENOKI.
Thank you Tom and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteI felt like a 32Down today when I finished a Saturday puzzle in 17 minutes. I was right on Tom's wavelength, filling in the bottom on the first pass through. NE was last to fall, maybe just because I worked on the other areas first.
BETZ,TYNAN and ENOKI were unknowns.
Rainy start to Saturday in south Alabama.
Yellowrocks, what is tbbt? Lots of lookups. Dnf. Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteGood morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up from our Saturday GENIUS. Thank you so much for linking the straw vs. hay article. Who knew? Well, actually, I bet most of you knew, but I had no idea until now.
NE was the last to fill because I skidded to the bottom on a snow-filled grid, and had to work my way back to the top. I loved the clue for ELEVEN - "Ones seen side by side." Brilliant!
grams @ 7:23, TBBT = "The Big Bang Theory" TV show. So, I can assume you're not one of the fans on the blog?
Have a relaxing Saturday everyone, and stay cool!
Good morning, weekend warriors!
ReplyDeleteThis one came together quickly, although I was slowed a bit in the southwest. Hand up for EXCEPTED before EXEMPTED. I wanted YUCK IT UP at first...too long. I wanted HOME for THORAX...too short.
Interesting to see cees and zees after our discussion about what is half of an ess curve.
Mary, yours is the first Alabama post I've seen here. Welcome to the blog. However your profile says you're in IL. Are you spoofing us?
"Notions" gave me ETUIS right off. I had an aunt who worked for many years in the Notions Dept. at H.C. Prange in Appleton.
Time to pedal around the 'hood...
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteThe wide open spaces looked intimidating at first, but somehow things flowed smoothly for a Saturday. Juarez was a lucky guess that made the whole SW fall quickly. Had Excepted before Exempted, but perps fixed that. Enoki and Etuis came straight from Crosswordese. Somehow convinced myself that fivescore equals Ten, instead of a hundred, so that was a V8 moment.
Morning Splynter, you still amaze me with your Saturday ability!
I'm going to have to read up on tree frogs and tree toads, mainly because I never heard of the latter.
Looks like weather relief is coming our way today. At last.
These are tree toads.
ReplyDeleteLink tree toads
From WIKI. The use of the common names "frog" and "toad" has no taxonomic justification. From a classification perspective, all members of the order Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered "true toads".
The difference between frogs and toads is not always clear.
Link Frog or toad?
This was a Goldilocks puzzle for me. Seems WAY too hard at first, but after the first pass yielded only Nancy, I decided to start wagging. Tra and Web (wrong) followed. Flippers yielded Pei, APO yielded Open Ended then LaCrosse etc. Bit by bit, with numerous erasures, it all came together, and in a reasonable time. Very enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited!! Yesterday, my BH came home to tell me she'd heard Boz Scaggs is playing in Salina on Friday. That's about 2 hours away. Salina? Seriously? We're on for that!
I did surprisingly well with this puzzle. Last area to fall was the entire Northeast. QUELL and SPREE just didn't come until they became obvious. Latin case ? I was thinking along the lines of ETUI. Slap of the head when I finally got ELEVEN.
ReplyDeleteHand up for wanting SLIM. She was of slight build.
The TCU Horned Frog is actually a lizard.
Off to work in the yard. Heat dome broke last night and dew point is dropping by the hour. Lawn is 4 days overdue for a cutting.
A perfect Saturday puzzle! The NW fell easily and then I went CCW and finished where I laughed out loud at “Ones side by side”. Many clues/spaces seemed to offer multiple options.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-I did go back and read the late postings from yesterday
-Wonderful I’m BUSTED
-This Seinfeld LIP READER mistook “sweep together” for “sleep together”.
-We have met several UNWED couples in their 70’s lately
-The A.D. at Pitt is a Nebraska boy that left Pitt, came to Nebraska for his “dream job”, failed miserably and went back to Pitt.
-Mr. Christian SCUTTLED the Bounty when the mutineers reached Pitcairn Island
-This GSA JUNKET made me want to VENT
-USC and Oregon football coaches won AT ANY COST, got caught and left to go to the pros. The schools were left with the consequences
-All pols are for LINE ITEM VETOES until it’s their line
-I SQUATted behind the plate for my entire baseball career
-Sheldon often makes fun of Apple for denigrating the word GENIUS. I am a devotee of Apple and TBBT!
"Holder of notions: ETUIS"
ReplyDeleteCan someone please explain how this makes sense?
NOTIONS: Miscellaneous small useful articles
ReplyDeleteETUI: a small usually ornamented case for holding needles, cosmetics, or other small articles
Sewing notions include needles, buttons, pins, seam ripper, needle threader, etc., all of which could be placed in your ETUI.
Hi again~!
ReplyDeleteJohn A - I really wanted to post some pictures, but most won't pass the "breakfast test", so I just wrote the truth - in my "ute" I had only Iron Maiden patches and pins (maybe one Metallica), but thanks for reminding me of Blaze; subliminal, maybe, but that was the period when I stopped buying Iron Maiden CDs.
Splynter
Hi Y'all! This worked through for me better than some Saturday puzzles, but I got stuck in the middle for awhile. Good one, Tom! Couldn't do without red-letter redirects though.
ReplyDeleteGreat expo, Splynter! Didn't know PEI was so old.
Gimmee: I've been to ZION National Park. Didn't trek up to Angel's Landing.
40D read "slowly" instead of "showily" at first which slowlied me down. Hands up for wanting a "C" in YUK. "Rates" before RATIO.
Unknowns: TYNAN, REECE, ENOKI, SARA, STERE.
Most proud to have gotten IDYL.
Splynter: What is an Iron Maiden patch?
I have occasionally watched TBBT, but don't find Sheldon at all funny or endearing. I grew up with a genius sister with borderline personality disorder and absolutely no common sense or compassion. She and Sheldon share many similar NOTIONS. She caused much family pain.
ayGood morning Saturday Solvers! Real toughie today – thanks for the mental workout, Tom. Needed to check in with Splynter to finish in the SW – thanks for helping with the heavy lifting. BTW, good luck with the full-time job possibility.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this puzzle despite my DNF, getting the biggest kick out of Ones Side by Side = ELEVEN, and Position Behind the Plate = SQUAT. The latter gave me the Q in QUELL, unlocking the rest of that section. NANCY Drew was a gimme, as I read most of the books as a girl. Younger daughter got her Master’s at PITT, so the Panthers are one of the few college sports teams in my wheelhouse. Another hand up for SLIM before SLUR at 29A. Thought YUK IT UP was just plain fun.
Anon @9:43 – here are a couple ETUI pictures to go along with YR’s explanation.
Hope you all have a great day!
Thank you Spylter, for your informative commentary.
ReplyDeleteNow, I knw the difference between HAY and STRAW - and will remember it for the rest of my life.
Thanks to Yellow Rocks for the difference between FROGS and TOADS. I 've got it all figured out now ....
One if them gives you warts, if you touch them. Those are the ones you don't eat, because they are possibly poisonous . Also calling a guy, a 'frog' is bad enough, ..... But don't ever call him a Toad. Them's fightin' words ....
Also the toads are also frogs, but frogs don't become toads ---- unless they do some unspeakable things ....
So, If you see a frog/toad in a tree or on the street - just 'pass on by '. ....... They may be one, or the other .....
Have a nice day, you all.
Hi again~!
ReplyDeletePK, here's the patch I had on the back of my denim jacket....Iron Maiden is one of the world's biggest and best heavy metal acts, ever.
Splynter
An 'Iron Maiden'. Is a blonde, with a metallic chastity belt.
ReplyDeleteGood day, Word Warriors! Great analysis, Splynter, thank you. I don't know how you do it.
ReplyDeleteLike many of you I found this easier than most Saturday puzzles. First pass gave me DATIVE,(yea for Latin studies) NANCY and JUAREZ both of which provided a toe hold to sashay through the west.
BETZ/ZION gave me some pause. Then at the east I came to a dead stop as I couldn't recall Gabrielle's last name. Finally I WAGGED RUHR/SCUTTLE and it all filled. All lovely except VENT which was a write over from REST and failed to change the S. Drat!
Thank you, Tom Heilman. This was fun. Now I have to find a roof repairman because there is a leak. Yikes!
Have a beautiful Saturday, everyone!
Well, after my lousy record this week with DNFs Thursday and Friday, it wasn't so bad to get a Saturday DNF as well. And I did enjoy it--many thanks, Tom. The East was the toughie for me, the West a pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI never thought I'd get that national park and couldn't believe it was ZION. My husband and I had one of our loveliest vacations there some years before his stroke. Had AT BAT instead of SQUAT which nixed that corner. But ELEVEN is a really clever clue, I have to admit.
Cool expo, as always, Splynter. Mary and Grams are you new? If so, welcome!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Hi Everyone:
ReplyDeleteI think the heat has done me in! Third day in a row with a DNF. Had excepted and even though Reecc looked wrong, my brain just never thought of exempted. Oh well, we're getting a cool-down today, so maybe tomorrow I'll get back on track.
Nice job, Tom, even if I had lots of miscues, and great expo, Splynter. Good luck with the F/T possibility.
I was a big fan of TBBT until this season. One of the original creators was replaced and the show now relies heavily on what I consider vulgar humor. It's a shame because for several seasons it was a very funny show and the characters were far more likable than they are now, IMO.
We are in for some nasty storms later today but if that's what it takes to end this heat wave, so be it.
Happy Saturday.
Hi everybody, I usually grump about Saturday puzzles but I mostly enjoyed this one. I always start at the top and it's as if my brain was connected to Tom Hellman's. The answers just popped into my head. Not that I didn't find parts of this one difficult, but I did better than usual and enjoyed the process more. Well done Tom and Bill G!
ReplyDeleteI had never watched TBBT until I found that several people here liked it. I have enjoyed some of the older shows that had clever writing. I would never have watched more than one episode if it weren't for Penny. The guys by themselves are too geeky and unpleasant.
Barry G stole the word right out of my mouth,,, "Ouch!"
ReplyDeleteBut, still learning a lot. Here is a blow up of one of the pics in Splynters Zion Park link. Angels Landing looks awesome, but I don't know if I could handle hiking up Walters Wiggles to get there. (I wonder if you could get dropped off by helicopter & just walk down?)
Well, off to YouTube to see if anyone did it with a GoPro camera so I can get a closer look...
Well, lots of out of breath panting videos out there, but this one caught my attention because it is so silly...
ReplyDeleteIf you are interested in Zion, the sidelinks on this video look very interesting. I included this video because in between the panting, & the ode to a Kit Kat bar, the guy mentions it costs $25.00 to get in???
When we were in ZION there were rock climbers with ropes & pitons hanging on the sheer face of what I think was Angel's Landing. They weren't going up very fast and it was about 7 p.m. when we left. I worried about those guys all night. CED: Thanks for the A.L. Album.
ReplyDeleteSQUAT was my first thought. Surprised it was right.
Splynter: Ooooh! The things I do not know! Heavy Metal is one of them, although my son-in-law was into that before he married my daughter.
Angels Landing (3:27) Watch in HD Fullscreen, Awesome!
ReplyDeleteG'Afternnon All you Saturday Solvers!
ReplyDeleteThrew in the Towel in NE. 14d killed me, I was so sure of upnext...
Since no one posted "going to Eleven"...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVKWCpNFhY
It's from Spinal Tap w/ Rob Reiner...
Fun Puzzle Tom. Thanks for the writeup Splyner. Didn't take you for an Iron Maiden fan; figured Rush (my 11d).
Have a wonderful Saturday all!
-T
// I've been shamed by all and am working on my avitar. Maybe by Monday - too many chores today.
Yellowrocks - thanks for the toad links. I gather that tree toads exist but only on other continents. Tree frogs, on the other hand, are common around my house. They sometimes cling to the patio door, as if they want to come in and watch TV.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss - we've only caught a few of the current TBBT episodes, for some reason. I thought the scripts seemed a bit different. Maybe the show will come to an end. Oh well, these things seem to have predictable life limits. I have respect for those successful shows that wave goodbye politely (such as M*A*S*H, and later, ER) with final episodes, rather than fading away in humiliation. I wonder what TBBT will do.
Can't believe I finished! YAY!
ReplyDeleteLast to fall was TYNAN/IDYL.
Will look at all your links a little later.
Welcome to the new bloggers.
Hello everybody. LW and I used to be fans of TBBT. She still is, but I have grown extremely disenchanted with the show, particularly because of the Sheldon character, who I find to be distressingly nasty, spiteful, and malevolent.
ReplyDeleteSplynter, you are awesome.
ReplyDeleteA toughie, no doubt. I had hardly anything on the first pass, but I was saved at the end by recognizing TYNAN, a name I remember from old times in the UK when, small world dept., he was the friend of a rival of mine.... That opened up the bottom for me.
ReplyDeleteStill, it took many passes, perps, and lightly-penned possibles to get any headway. I can't claim a pure credit, because I checked too many answers after-the-fact before proceeding.
At the end I almost blew it by leaving ATTITUDE in place of APTITUDE. I caught that at the very last instant when I realized that LIT READER made no sense. At all.
PS. Like Doha Doc, my very favorite clue was for 13D. I love that stuff!
Wow! I just went back to read about HAY and STRAW. I always thought them to be synonymous. Now I know the difference. Thank you again, Splynter.
ReplyDeleteDudley @ 12:54 - IMO, TBBT will continue for a while because it is the most-watched show by that all-important 19-49 age demographic. And that age group would most likely expect and accept the "humor" that I find offensive. To each his own, I guess. I find more humor in this blog than on TV, anyway, not to mention much nicer people. (-:
ReplyDeleteHi again~!
ReplyDeleteD'OH~!
How did I miss the perfect chance to link Nigel Tufnel's explanation of why his Marshall amp goes to ELEVEN~!
Splynter
desper-otto @ 7:44
ReplyDeleteNot spoofing, I just hadn't updated my profile since I moved to Alabama in January.
I still read the blog a lot but hadn't commented for ages until I had all the extra time this morning. I usually expect Saturday to take me about an hour.
CED: I certainly see why the busload of retired people with whom I went to ZION were not offloaded and sent on the trek up Angel's Landing. I got terror chills watching the video. I can't imagine hiking up there with such a small baby. Some people have no sense of doom, I guess. Why'd I get so much.
ReplyDeleteAfter a week or more of temperatures up to 97, we had a nice rain about 10 p.m. last night. It is now raining again. Hallalulah!
My elder son & grandson came by this afternoon "for a few minutes" and stayed over two hours. I don't see my kids for months then they sit down and talk like they were "starved" to visit with me. I love it.
One of the Jeopardy answers tonight was Jodi Picoult's Memory Keeper's Daughter, a very moving book. I also liked her novel, Sister's Keeper. Have any of you read them?
ReplyDeleteYR: I have read both of those Jody Picoult books and (I think) all of her other works. Did you like them? She is very engrossing and thought provoking, I think. I was especially interested in her "House Rules", about an autistic boy, because I have a grandson who is autistic, probably Asbergers.
ReplyDeletePK. I thought they were great, very thought provoking, dealing with serious questions. I especially related to having a disabled child. I will have to read House Rules.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you had such a nice visit with your son and grandson. Our grown offspring certainly can be unpredictable.
I'm way late for commenting, but I just thought this was one of the very finest themeless puzzles I've seen. The stacked 9-letter entries in each corner were all great fill and the pangram (with multiple Zs and Js to boot) didn't harm the quality at all. Super puzzle.
ReplyDelete