Theme: Cross beams!
20A: Chocolate-and-crisped-rice candy: NESTLE CRUNCH
42A: “It floats” sloganeer: IVORY SOAP
37A: Solid investment?: GOLD INGOT
and the unifier:
57A Gymnast’s event, or what 20-, 37- and 42-Across literally are in this grid: PARALLEL BARS
Hi everyone - Steve here with the Wednesday offering to wrap up July. Susan Gelfand's name doesn't pop up in the blog labels as being seen before, but the last time I congratulated a debutant it turned out that he'd had a slew of puzzles published in the past, so I'll defer to C.C. and the rest of the crew before offering figurative back-slaps. (From C.C.: Susan has 9 puzzle published by the NY Times, but I believe this is her LAT debut.)
It did take me a little while to figure out the theme when I'd finished the puzzle, it was the "literally" in the unifier that finally got the penny to drop - the three theme entries are all kinds of bars, and they all literally run parallel to each other in the grid.
There was some nice fill too and it all added up to a pretty smooth Wednesday. I had a couple of missteps along the way, but nothing too serious. I needed quite a few crosses to help with a number of unknowns, and I had a borderline personal Natick with AD REM/AMOS OZ, but that's what good cluing is all about.
Across:
1 Rooters with beers, maybe: FANS. Nice opening.
5 Pampering places: SPAS
9 Spunk: MOXIE
14 Stargazer’s focus?: IDOL. Another nice little misdirection. I definitely had the night sky in my mental sights for a while here.
15 Basil or Ginger, e.g.: NAME. I thought this clue was very elegant in that it disqualifies the potential "HERB" answer by cluing a spice and a herb. It would have been easy (and possibly mean) to misdirect with "Basil or Rosemary, e,g."
16 Attention-getters: AHEMS
17 “__ put it another way ...”: OR TO
18 Switch ender: EROO. Switcheroo.
19 Pinkish wines: ROSÉS. The French and Spanish rosés are wonderfully dry, unlike the Californian white zins which give pink wines a bad name.
23 “Jews and Words” co-author: AMOS OZ. The M was my last letter to fill. I'm calling it a semi-WAG.
24 Heavenly lion: LEO
25 Ballpark fig.: EST. I thought at first this was some kind of baseball stat that I'd never heard of, but then ohhhh! An estimate!
28 Official symbol: SEAL. This is one very nice example:
31 Puzzling problem: ENIGMA. Winston Churchill memorably described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"
33 Like a Chihuahua’s ears: ERECT
39 Many an auctioned auto: REPO
40 P-like Greek letter: RHO
41 Sprinted: TORE
45 Lost cause: GONER
46 Bird in a clock: CUCKOO. I don't know how people can put up with one of these things in the house, unless they get so used to them they can filter out the racket, which rather defeats the purpose.
47 Pianist Peter: NERO. Needed crosses here. I'm not really up on my pianists.
49 Chuckle sound: HEH
50 Looker’s leg: GAM. This seems such an inelegant word for what is meant to be a very attractive leg. It does, however, give me a great excuse to post a picture of the incomparable gams of Cyd Charisse!
52 Beehive, e.g.: HAIRDO
60 Crosswise, nautically: ABEAM. Quibble. I think "athwart" answers the definition here. ABEAM describes the position of an object 90 degrees off the side of a vessel. Thoughts?
63 Refusals: NOES
64 Scoreboard figure, at times: STAT
65 Coup group: JUNTA. You always hear news reports of a "military junta". Can you have a non-military junta?
66 Vegan staple: TOFU
67 German article: EINE
68 Inner turmoil: ANGST. I was on the digestive tract (mis)track for a while with this one.
69 Six-legged marchers: ANTS
70 American-born Jordanian queen: NOOR
Down:
1 Pop singer Apple: FIONA. Great live version of her hit "Shadowboxer" here
2 Relevant, in law: AD REM. From the Latin "to matter".
3 Untrue: NOT SO
4 Casino lineup: SLOTS
5 React to sunlight, maybe: SNEEZE. Gesundheit!
6 Paris’s Bois de Vincennes, par exemple: PARC. Clue in French, answer in French.
7 Son of Venus: AMOR
8 1988 Summer Olympics city: SEOUL. These Olympics produced the most stunning men's 100 meters sprint final when Ben Johnson shattered the world record with a time of 9.79 seconds. The next day he tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the gold medal. Oops!
9 Pioneer in wireless telegraphy: MARCONI
10 “Oopsie!”: OH-OH
11 Survey marks: XES
12 “__ Mine”: Beatles song: I ME
13 Double curve: ESS
21 2000s TV drama that ended in a church: LOST. I think I'm one of the few people in the country that never watched a minute of single episode of this show.
22 Have to have: NEED
25 Encourage: EGG ON. I think of this in the "encourage to do something totally dumb" context, almost certainly involving a skateboard or a bicycle, a set of steps with a handrail and the inevitable result of much pain and suffering.
26 Camper’s dessert: S'MORE
27 Spud: TATER
29 Prefix with business: AGRO. I had "AGRI" first which had me wondering what SIAP was.
30 Lindsay of “Mean Girls”: LOHAN. That's putting it nicely. I can think of many more unflattering ways to clue this one!
32 Gung-ho about: INTO
33 Psychoanalyst Fromm: ERICH. Crosses. I'm as up on my psychoanalysts as I am my pianists.
34 Variety show: REVUE
35 Noteworthy period: EPOCH
36 Eco-friendly tile material: CORK. The Cork Forest Conservation Alliance has answers to any question you could ever think to pose about this abundant natural resource, including scotching the screw-top wine bottle myth that there is a cork shortage. Who knew?
38 Run easily: LOPE
43 Place for meditation, for some: YOGA MAT. Not me. When I'm on my yoga mat I'm being bullied into doing outrageous Pilates maneuvers that my body was not designed for. I'm crying, rather than meditating.
44 Fly high: SOAR
45 Hockey score: GOAL
48 Animal for which a blood factor is named: RHESUS. Rhesus macaques have assisted in a number of scientific projects and have been into orbit on many occasions.
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51 Tropical ray: MANTA
53 Hedda Gabler’s creator: IBSEN.
54 Proportion: RATIO
55 Backup-beating brand: DRANO. I enjoyed this - I was on the computer-file backup track for a while.
56 Maker of the MyBlend blender: OSTER. I can't see this brand name now without wincing - last year I was pulling my Oster blender out of the cupboard above my oven and I dropped the (heavy!) glass mixing bowl. Instinctively I wanted to save it from shattering on my tiles so I intelligently stuck my bare foot between it and the floor. I broke two bones in my foot and the darn thing still shattered.
58 Bird on Canada’s dollar coin: LOON
59 Hit the road: LEFT
60 1977 Steely Dan album: AJA. Their best-selling album.
61 Burger holder: BUN
62 Tower of London loc. ENG. I wonder if there's a tower in London, Ontario as well as London, England?
And there we have it. That's it from me today - have a great Wednesday and see you next time.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteNot much today about this one. Figured out the theme pretty easily, which was nice. Struggled a bit with ERICH (tried ENOCH at first). Wanted UHOH instead of OHOH. The North Central was the last to fall due to the cluing on NAME (yes, I tried HERB even though ginger isn't one), PARC (not up on my French parks), SEOUL and even SNEEZE (never had that reaction to sunlight, and I SNEEZE a lot).
Other than that, though, pretty smooth sailing.
[iesrdes]
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks for interesting puzzle, Susan! Swell expo, Steve!
I am still confused about SNEEZE! Put it in, because it had to be. No cheats. Rather fast puzzle.
Happy hump day!
Good Morning, Steve and friends. This was a fun Wednesday puzzle. I hope we seem more of Ms. Gelfand's puzzles.
ReplyDeleteRooters With Beers = FANS was a great way to start this puzzle.
I also really liked the Tropical Ray = MANTA.
Sneezing in the sunlight was a new one for me.
I was momentarily thinking of writing in Herb for Basil and Ginger, but knew that Ginger is not an Herb. After getting a couple of down answers, I realized we were looking for a NAME.
I must be in good company, Steve, because I never watched any episodes of LOST either.
AMOS OZ has appeared in puzzles before. His book, Jews and Words was written with his daughter, Fania.
Here is the SEAL of Louisiana. What is the SEAL of your state?
QOD: If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand. ~ Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 ~ Nov. 16, 2006)
[mamewat]
Happy Wednesday everybody!
ReplyDeleteWSS (What Steve Said) re: the Natick crossing of ADREM and AMOS OZ, with the “M” being the last letter to fall, albeit in a kinda, sorta cheaty way (an on-line alphabet run until getting the Ta-Da)….
Hands up for HERB instead of NAME….
Otherwise a trouble-free romp….
Bill G: I had the same thing happen to a Reagle puzzle because I pressed an weird key by mistake! I ran through it very quickly again! (Maybe I learned something.)
ReplyDeleteNote: Crossword Fiend gave this puzzle 4.5/5 stars!!! There were 15 very funny definitions! My favorite was-- (n.) A cross between a horse and a cow: EQUINOX. By the way, if you work these from the Wash. Post site, you can SAVE them!
Anyone besides Bill read my comment about Under the Dome? Would really like to discuss it!
Happy hump day everyone,
ReplyDeleteI found this a bit tough today with plenty of hold ups, and one error, so another DNF.
The NW corner got me. FIONA was a wag & Adret instead of ADREM was my downfall. Never heard of AMOSOZ either & Atosoz looked good.
Count me in for Herb before NAME, which I think is sort of a weak clue.
SNEEZE at the sun? I don't, do you?
I found the North to be a grind in total, the Central & South doable, by by no means, a gimme.
Not crazy about the theme either. OK, I get the BARS bit, but it's not my kind of bar. What say you Tin?
Talk to you tomorrow.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteLiked the theme today, though I didn't need it for the solve. Pretty much zipped through, but had the same situation as Steve where Amos met Rem. Never heard of Jews and Words. The Ginger/Basil clue was clever, but didn't fool me today.
Sunlight makes people sneeze? Who knew? That was all perps.
Hand up for never having seen Lost. No idea what it's about. Lindsey Lohan seems to be the poster child for what can go wrong with too much success too early. What a shame.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Susan Gelfand, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for the great review.
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle. Lots of different clues. Refreshing. However, not too easy, for sure.
Had FANS for 1A, then erased it for CHIPS for 4D. Then went back to FANS after SLOTS became obvious. That is the way the whole puzzle went.
The NW was my last to complete. NESTLE CRUNCH took a while. I had about three versions of 17A. Finally OR TO stuck.
Wanted WISH for 14A. SLOTS killed that. IDOL became obvious after some deep thinking.
For 37A I wanted GOLDEN ?OT for the longest time. Then I figured out I spelled MARCONE wrong. MARCONI fixed that to GOLD INGOT. EGG ON fell into place.
Got PARALLEL BARS before any of the three theme answers.
To a while to remember how to spell CUCKOO. REVUE fixed that.
Off to my day. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(eonedfy)
Sneezing at the sun is widely is a widely recognized condition. Type "sneezing at sun" into your web browser or check out the Wikipedia article on photic sneeze reflex.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, friends. Thank you, Steve; your commentary helped me understand AD REM/AMOS OZ.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part this was a fast sashay until hitting the above Natick. I confidently wrote AD RES because RES is the only Latin legal expression I recall.
And I can never remember Steely Dan's album though we've seen it multiple times.
I finally returned to my YOGA MAT after many months because I was nursing a sciatic nerve problem. That hurts!
Oh, hand up for momentarily filling HERB/NAME. If a SNEEZE were my reaction to sunlight, I would never stop; I SNEEZE from allergic reaction.
Very nice, Susan Gelfand; I look forward to your next one.
Have a wondrous Wednesday, everyone!
Good morning everybody! I thought I did pretty well on this puzzle, until I read Steve's write up. I have so many write-overs now! What happened?
ReplyDeleteI had USED instead of REPO, and my Jordanian queen was NOIR. I had ASA for AJA and COOCOO for CUCKOO. And to top it off, I'd never heard of AMOS OZ, JUNTA or sneezing at the sun!
Oh well, I can't win 'em all!
Enjoy your day.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteA little crunchy today. AMOS OZ was the last fill, but at least, no Naticks. Didn't get the theme until after I was done and had a ho hum reaction to it. Liked the puzzle, though. AD REM and OSTER were WAGS.
ANGST - I translate it as 'fear'. Ich hab Angst - I'm afraid. (not a nit)
LOONie - Canada's 2 dollar coin is the toonie and has a polar bear on it.
Steve - I agree with your sense on ABEAM. But if a lookout peers 90º from the ship's heading (crosswise) and observes an object to report he/she might use ABEAM if not using a relative bearing. I guess it's a context thing. (Wednesday?)
Have a great day.
Seal of Illinois
ReplyDeleteFermetprime and Irish Miss: I too watch Under the Dome. I have never read the book so I am curious as well.
If you haven't watched the show SPOILER ALERT! The show keeps me interested but I also get annoyed at times. Like for instance, why was that man driving the large appliance truck when he struck the water tower. Is anybody under the dome working? Who's ordering appliances?
And the whole thing with Jr. and Angie - I think its been draging out way too long.
I wanted to smack that girl who was trying to steal insulin - other people need it too! Etc. etc. etc.
Yet somehow the show keeps me interested. Thoughts? Opinions?
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThree mile march and daily xword completed. Check!
I'm another who thinks the sun is nothing to SNEEZE at. I didn't know AMOS OZ, but the Z was the only letter that fit. Had AGRI before the O showed up, and UH OH before the O showed up. I had CLAY before the O showed up, making it CORK. I'm sensing a pattern here...
Hand up for never having seen an episode of LOST. I did watch a couple of episodes of The Dome, but decided to let it go quietly off into Minnow's wasteland.
Wanted PHILLIPS for the backup-beating brand, but it was too long.
Oops, put too many N's in Minow.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all ! Thank you Steve and thank you Susan Gelfand. And thank you all for your too-kind lauding of my literary effort yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Hahtoolah on this one. "This was a fun Wednesday puzzle. I hope we seem more of Ms. Gelfand's puzzles." The puzzle seemed fresh.
Ultimately, had to have the computer solve one letter. It was the M intersecting AMOS OZ and AD REM. Sad part is that is knew it was Latin and was AD something rather than an unknown 1 word fill, but still couldn't figure out which letter. Tried S and N and T and G and never got the TA DA, so hit the "Solve Letter" option. 99 % A+ on the scoreboard, but a TDNF.
Hand up for never having seen a minute of Lost. I may have watched a few minutes of Under the Dome after all of the pre-season hype, but that was it. It didn't have me at hello.
Hand up for the occasional sneeze when walking out into bright sunlight.
State Seal of Illinois
Walking Dude,
True on backup beating brand. ExLax fit character count wise, as did senna and fleet, but the perps said otherwise. I was definitely on a different track than Steve.
Shouldn't there have been some indication that 64A was an abbreviation?
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan Gelfand for a very daunting puzzle. Thank you Steve for some really charming commentary.
ReplyDeleteI got Neste Crunch and Gold ingot. Then I started thinking about gold - the prices have collapsed (thank god ! )... And got totally sidetracked....
I happen to, sneeze at the moon, specially a full moon - maybe I have some werewolf cub DNA.
Most vegetarians don't know what tofu is. Most Indians use the 'duck' formula .... If it looks like meat, sounds and 'feels' like meat, and tastes like - what meat would have tasted like - its meat. That includes mushrooms, truffles, and even fungus. They can 'make out' the unani taste .... even without tasting it . Lol.
It seems to me that 'military junta', is just plain redundant ... Maybe the Russians had a 'secret police' junta, in decades past ?
The Cork 'repopularisation' bureau as is appears to be, maybe a great idea - at least, initially. The sole purpose being to ensure a market for a forest resource, which is way past it's prime, and to provide for jobs for the agricultural workers. Hence, all this pseudo-scientific BS is being devised. Though I can sympathize with them, I believe history and economics will prove them wrong. I can think of a hundred agricultural products that have been replaced by synthetic products, that could claim similar sob stories, and it has not made an iota of a difference for their eventual, falling to the wayside.
Hahtoolah, further to what the US Govt. can do, to skew, the economics curve, --- as a noted Senator (who ? ) made a comment, a long time ago, during discussions on the NASA program budget, 'An elephant, is a mouse, built to US government specifications ...' .
Have a nice day, you all.
Ditto,,, ad rem/amos az. I can never remember AJA, & Oster was unknown.
ReplyDeleteNew Jersey State Seal (at the risk of sounding political, I think this would be a better NJ Seal...
Parallel bars are not so hard once you get comfortable on them.
But you do have to be brave to do the parallel bars in front of an audience.
"AGRI" is correct for 29D "Prefix with business." "AGRO" is a prefix with "biology," "chemistry," "forestry," "industry," "logy" and "nomy." See "the dictionary." This entry is a foul.
ReplyDeleteYes, Tattoo, Ze Theme, Ze Theme. I saw it!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Fans used to get cheap beer on thirsty Thursday at Omaha Royals game. Uh, they had to quit that.
-Mary Richard’s spunk irritated Lou Grant
-Ginger capitalized got me off the HERB wagon
-…OR TO put it another way, you’re a creep Weiner
-Best SWITCHEROO in TV history
-Breaking Germany’s ENIGMA code in WWII greatly aided victory
--Betty Grable’s GAMS reminded GI’s what they were fighting for
-Here are some baseball STATS I’ll bet you don’t know
-NOT SO is now flipped, “You are SO NOT getting a date with her.”
-I never have asked my barber why he calls his shop The Backstage REVUE
-AGROnomics – my neighbor sold 4,000 bushels of beans on Tuesday last week. On Wednesday, they went down $3/bushel. Keep your SLOTS; he doesn’t need ‘em.
-LOHAN doesn’t care what anyone thinks, just spell her name correctly
-I wonder how many of these YOGA positions our Steve can do ;-)
Good morning, gang - thought this was a really good Wednesday puzzle, and not just because of the DF stuff in it. My only mistake was 20A, where I started writing NESTLES CRUNC and ran out of little boxes. Nicely done by Ms. Gelfand.
ReplyDeleteSpent a couple days in the Everglades, bonding with Mother Nature -- they've got some big-ass bugs down here, including mosquitos large enough to have FAA identifiers on their sides.
For those of you who've never had a habanero pepper, let this be a caution for you. I love the ending, where she learns what adding carbonation does.
Hope it's a great day for everyone.
Addendum – 16 year old granddaughter Emma is here but look what happened to 8 –year-old granddaughter Elise in Lincoln after her fall from some “monkey bars”. Take special note of her smile and her dolly’s left arm thanks to her “crafty” mom.
ReplyDeleteFinished the puzzle, but did not care for it, sorry Susan. I do know how hard it is to construct a good puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI do sneeze at the sun, so much so, that my wife blesses me everytime we walk out into the sun from a darker area. Even before I sneeze. Unfair clue though, because this is pretty rare. I have never met anybody with same condition.
Wanted squint at first.
Always thought it was Nestle(s) crunch. So the extra 's' held me up for a bit.
Had Herb at first, and assumed constructor didn't know ginger was a spice (girl).
Hi Y'all! Had a bit of trouble starting. Only thing I got in the NW block was SLOTS. Haven't eaten a NESTLE CRUNCH since half my lifetime ago.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't remember that Italian guy until perps gave me CONI & I happily slapped in MAR. Then I wanted MOjos before MOXIE. That's a New York state of mind. Don't hear it here in the boonies. But I knew ENIGMA -- read the book called that.
Yay! For once, I knew AJA. "I ME Mine" another Beatles song I never heard of.
I started watching "LOST", but all the flashbacks were so confusing, it LOST my interest.
Didn't know ERICH Fromm a RHESUS. My brother does medical research with rats. He was too tender hearted to use monkeys or dogs which are lovable. He said it's hard to love a rat.
"Backup-beating" called to mind a policeman wanting help at first.
I'm sneezing at something this morning, the sun is out, but I'm indoors so I doubt it is that.
OH OH, forgot to thank Susan for a great puzzle! Steve, you are always a treat.
ReplyDeleteWhat I can't figure out is why they don't arrest Weiner for transmitting porn.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThought this was a tad crunchy and was a DNF thanks to adrem/AmosOz. Nice job, Susan, and neat expo, Steve.
Another hand up for never having watched Lost. Re Under The Dome, I have mixed feelings. The basic premise is interesting enough but then some things get far-fetched, which is not surprising since this is Steven King's forte. I never read the book, so I have no idea what's coming next.
I agree with Mari that the Junior/Angie bit has been dragged out too long and I could slap that insulin-thief just on principle! Good point about the oddness of the appliance truck, Mari. As I mentioned, it has been renewed for a second season and the ratings are very high, so, so far, it's been a commercial success. I'll probably continue to watch it, as long as it doesn't get really far-fetched.
Compared to the behavior of Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan looks like Pollyanna.
Dennis, we're still waiting for that rant of yours. (-:
Have a wonderful Wednesday.
George Harrison's I Me Mine may not have been one of the best known tunes by the Beatles, but it got quite a bit of air play. And I think it's more pertinent today than when written.
ReplyDeleteHad lot's of slowdowns with this puzzle, but got it done. Favorite theme clue/answer was gold ingot.
I've sneezed due to bright sun all my life. I doubt it's really all that rare.
Good morning Steve, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteFun write-up, Steve. I shouldn’t have, but laughed out loud at your EGG ON and OSTER comments. Ouch!! Seems you need to stay out of the kitchen and off of skateboards and bikes…
Great puzzle. Several write-overs, but very doable. And I loved the "literal" theme revealer. Very clever!
Whenever I have an “almost” sneeze, I look into sunlight and immediately sneeze. It seems that I am in the minority of people who are “photic sneezers.”
More here.
The Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts .
Lots of trauma here over the past two days. One of my cats (“Zoe”) was bleeding all over the kitchen floor. We rushed her to the vet and she stayed overnight. It turned out to be a urinary tract infection. There were not bladder stones on x-ray, so that was a relief. But $345 later, she is almost back to her old self. Now she has to go on a special diet – only canned food. Arrgh.
CED, I woulda never thought - but I must take exception at one of your links !!! @ 0938 Hrs.
ReplyDeleteWhat you show as a better, preferable, state seal of NJ - has Chicago, Ill., inscribed at the lower arc end !!!!
How dare you insult us, Illini ?
That's our seal.
WEES (what everybody else said). Perfect Wednesday puzzle, Susan--doable, but with enough fun misdirections to make it interesting. Had the same HERB moment but realized GINGER in caps had to make it a name. A last name shared by a BASIL and a GINGER? Anyway, settled on NAME pretty quickly. But I was pretty sure SNEEZE would turn out to be wrong, and yet there it was, correct, to my surprise.
ReplyDeleteSteve, what a sad Oster story. Hope it hasn't stopped you from cooking or baking.
Have a great Wednesday, everybody!
G'Morning All!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Susan for the pzl and Steve for the fun REVUE...
FIONA got me started as my wife listens to that kind of music. She also taught me to look to a light when I feel the need to SNEEZE.
Only two Googles needed, so my STATs are improving, though other languages are still an ENIGMA to me.
IVORYSOAP was my favorite as it is the only soap I use in the kitchen and bath.
I always have ANGST over OSTER. Does anyone else try Oyster first and then remember there's no Y? I had to check the spelling on the toaster.
I'm a FAN that still IDOLizes Biggio. He played with MOXIE, but he (IN)GOT the short end of the stick with everyone else on 'roids.
NESTLECRUNCH - every Halloween I eat a few. Its how I teach the kids about the Tax Man (Beatles) :-).
And for the state SEAL of Texas.
Cheers,
-T
CED's manhole cover "seal" reminded me of the scene from Miss Congeniality where FBI agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock), posing as Miss New Jersey, is asked why New Jersey is called the Garden State. Her answer: Because it's too hard to fit "oil and petro-chemical refinery state" on a license plate?
ReplyDeleteYep, Natick AMOSOZ/LOST cross for this pop culture nit wit.
ReplyDeleteSteve: Wonderful REVUE & links.
ReplyDeleteGotta like a puzzle with NESTLE CRUNCH and S'MORE ... with ROSES!
Husker: OH-OH, Elise! Cute pic with her doll (and I liked its cast, also).
I've never seen anyone SNEEZE at sunlight here in Tampa Bay.
Probably those who do ... vacation somewhere other than the Sunshine State.
Thought 49-A, Chuckle sound, HEH was Meh. JMHO
Hondo: When I think of PARALLEL BARS ... I think of Pubs next to each other.
Cheers!!!
didn't get rooters with beers, maybe.....why not just rooters...doesn't add a thing to the answer
ReplyDeleteRooters with beers
ReplyDeleteUnder the Dome, like Lost, is a show I never watched at all.
ReplyDeleteI remembered AMOS OZ from a puzzle earlier this year. That time, he intersected sci-fi writer Frederick POHL. I seem to remember a lot of comments about Naticks that day...
ReplyDeleteLoved the photo of the beautiful and elegant Tula Ellice Finklea, AKA, Cyd Charisse!
ReplyDeleteHG,
ReplyDeleteYou are right on............... the link has several BB stats I've not heard of and some that i vaguely recall. Bottom line is, who cares? This sport is inundated with meaningless stats that have absolutely nothing to do with the only one that counts............ wins and losses. The rest is simply conversational fodder for those who claim to be fans, but what they really need is a life.
Cute grand daughter. Hope she heals quickly.
Hondo - Ouch!
ReplyDeleteNow I don't know every stat for every player (and this year's 'Stros change weekly), but not a life? I'm hurt. I just read the paper and recall who is where. And when L's are 34 over W's, it's all we got :-)
HG - I didn't comment on dolly's cast earlier, but we did the same thing to normalize it for our young dare-devll. Your SO is thinking and did a great job.
Cheers,
-T
TTP @ 8:47 am: I like your Real Seal of the State of Illinois!
ReplyDeleteCED @ 9:38 am: I like your Better Seal of NJ - even if you're making fun of us Chicagoans ;)
Tin @ 11:40 am: I love your "parallel bars"!
Irish Miss @ 10:23 am: Under the Dome may be extended, but I'm not sure if I'll watch the 2nd season. We'll have to see how things play out. Maybe Season 2 will get better, ala The Killing.
Hello everybody. Well sure enough I put in AD RES and figured ASOSOZ was as good a name as any. Everything else was a fun solve. One of my favorites is Tropical ray - MANTA. Knew it probably wasn't HERB because Ginger was capitalized. Basil RATHBONE wouldn't fit, though. Nor would ROGERS.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought the theme had something to do with precious materials, what with GOLD and IVORY, so I wanted NOUGAT CRUNCH or maybe even NUGGET. That messed up the NW for me as much as AD RES did.
Best wishes to you all.
Sneezing at the sun seems to be a family trait for my sister and I.
ReplyDeleteHi all!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the puzzle and didn't get the theme until the reveal. I didn't know AMOSOZ either. Hands up for not being sure how to spell CUCKOO.
FP, I haven't watched Under the Dome because it sounded unpleasant to me.
I did watch LOST. The episodes were very well done and clever but they all lead to a climax that I had hoped would make sense of everything. It didn't (for me) and I felt cheated. But I suspected I wasn't going to enjoy so many things left unexplained. So, for me, the journey was better than the destination.
Here is the always excellent animal slideshow from NBC. Animal Tracks.
desper-otto:
ReplyDeleteYour first spelling of minnow was correct.
Dennis:
That video is a hoot! I've seen that reaction, well maybe not that dramatic, so now I cook with milder chile for company.
CEDave:
As always your videos are smashingly funny.
HG:
Your Elise is so cute. I hope she heals quickly. Oh, the dolly, too.
Tinbeni:
I'm sorry to tell you that here in the desert ICE is a vital necessity. I laughed at your PARALLEL bars.
Lucina, the Minow I was referring to was Newton Minow, one-time chairman of the FCC who labeled television a vast wasteland. He spelled it with just one N.
ReplyDeleteHusker, really nice pic of your granddaugter. Her smile is cute, but no teeth showing. Did she, by chance, lose a tooth or two at the same time?
The only STAT I pay heed to is when DW says, "Bring that over here STAT!" It's best to obey. she does forgive eventually, but she never forgets.
Speaking of rooters with beers ...
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it will be 40 years next year since this event !
It seems like it was just yesterday !
An excellent Weds puzzle. Thank you, Susan! It was very well paced for me; I never paused even though I had to scratch and re-fill four or five times.
ReplyDeleteIt was a TDNF, or, well, actually a DNF because I ended up with ASOSOZ instead of AMOS OZ. I didn't know the legal term for relevance (2D), so based my answer on TV court Latin. I entered AD RES instead of AD REM.
As for 33A, I'm surprised I got it right. Our Chihuaha, Nacho, must have some Jack Russell in his crazy ancestry. Just check the anomalous ears on our Nacho Fowler . !
Lucina:
ReplyDeleteICE is vital here in the Tampa Bay area.
How else would we properly chill our beer?
It is just NOT ALLOWED anywhere near my Pinch.
I prefer my scotch NEAT!
KF: The 'Nacho Fowler' link didn't work.
Cheers!!!
My hand is UP for the occasional sun sneeze. Maybe not so much these days as when I was a kid. Kids never know what to expect, but by the time I was a teen I could anticipate the sun effect and so squelch it.
ReplyDeleteDon't we make these adjustments automatically, without thinking? To hazard a generalization, I'd say we lose the susceptibility to sun-sneezes around the same time we become immune to a good tickling.
To tell the truth, I kinda miss a good sneeze. And a good tickle. And fresh taste buds. And, well, heheh, the list can go on....
Sorry, Tinbeni. I checked, and it works for me. But maybe it requires access to my F'book page.
ReplyDeleteHere's the clear link:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10101906979185281&set=pcb.10101906980612421&type=1&theater
KF: That 'clear link' @2:35 didn't work for me either.
ReplyDeleteOh well, I'm sure he is a cute dog.
Sorry again, Tinbeni.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone else is finding the same problem (accessing my link to "Nacho Fowler") please let me know, so I can maybe track the problem.
Meanwhile, I have adjusted the setting from "Friends" to "Public" on my Facebook page, so if you want to try again, or try the clear link, it may work NOW.
-Yeah, Elise is a little cutie but she did not lose any teeth. Four years ago, she had a seizure and we almost lost here and so anything less than that is tolerable. She just can’t be in the pool and will have to craft with one hand for 4 – 6 weeks.
ReplyDelete-Dave. I loved The Cup Song yesterday. Granddaughter has seen a lot of his work. It reminded me of For The Longest Time when Billy Joel sang all the parts and mixed them later.
-I just bought some flavoring for the Iced Coffee I make here. The flavor goes away after you brew it and pour it over ice. Same with Pinch, Tin?
-BTW, we are in the second week of the CBS/Time Warner feud for which we had to buy a “through the air” antenna to get CBS shows. Is that going on anywhere else in the country?
Had to find a minute to post today because so many Canadian connections in the puzzle and discussion. London Ontario has Market Tower and City Centre Tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Centre_Towers
ReplyDeletebut no comparison to the real Tower of London!!!
We love our loonie and toonie!
I remember that Olympics and Ben Johnson winning - we were so ecstatic and then SO disappointed!
We had a cuckoo clock that came from the Black Forest area of Germany and we soon became used to it's sound. But if awake in the night, I would notice it. Try to figure out what one cuckoo means after midnight!
I'm a "sun sneezer"
Hey ! I am the real Vidwan ...... No really.
ReplyDeleteSomeone's been impersonating me - quit it, I say !
Anyway, the Cleveland baseball stadium (Indians ) beer night incident - and the resulting riot - was in 1974 - That was 39 years ago .....
Things haven't improved much - we're still losing badly, and the attendance at the new Baseball field - the Jacob's field / Progressive field is still at its all time low. About 5000 per game. The local newspaper had a survey done, recently - more inner city school kids can name the President of the USA, than even name one Cleveland Indian ball player !!! Now, that's bad ....
Now, they have a promotion of 99 cents hot dogs, at every game, with no limit on purchases ..... That's going to last another 5 games, until fans discover they can buy hot dogs even cheaper than that at the Walmart. What the Indians management needs to realize is that they now have to try desperate measures - " One toke over the line" - ( See yesterday's clues ....) - all for $ 0.99 - if they still want the fans back.
I still kinda doubt it though. Fans are already too stoned to attend. Maybe they need to hand some of that stuff to the ball players. Couldn't hurt.
To the impersonator - I really don't follow sports, in Cleveland or elsewhere - For obvious reasons.
I just got around to watching the habanero pepper video. Wow! I don't quite know what to think. I wonder what she was thinking about making the video in the first place, talking about buying and eating fruit. What was the point? I guess we all have to get an education through life experiences somehow. I started to laugh but I felt bad for her at the same time.
ReplyDeleteMarti, I'm glad your cat is OK.
Gary, I'm glad Elise seems to be taking it all OK. Nice smile. There is a CBS/TimeWarner feud here too but nothing has been disrupted yet. I doubt that there are any good guys in that dispute; both want more money.
Keith, no luck viewing the Nacho page for me either.
HeartRX aka Marti:
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your kitty. I hope he or she is doing OK.
My 14 year old Ozzy has a tumor on her colon. She seems happy and appears to be doing well. She eats a lot and runs and plays with the other cats. When I heard her diagnosis I was very sad, but she is doing well.
Glad you kitty is better! /\__/\
Keith - Try re-posting Nacho now that you have changed the setting to Public. I'd love to see the picture.
ReplyDeleteMari and Marti - Best wishes for the kitties.
ReplyDeleteKeith, Could you email me your Nacho picture? I'd love to see it too.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss: Thank you for the well wishes /\__/\
No LOST or Dome for me either. I just don't care for the genre.
ReplyDeleteSorry to use up all of my "five per day" limit, but I want to try one more time to post the link to our Chihuahua. My Facebook setting now is for "Public," so this OUGHT to come through. I hope you can meet our Nacho Frijolito Fowler -- Nacho -again .
ReplyDeleteKeith - Still no dice on Nacho. I get:
ReplyDeleteThe page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.
I don't do facebook (I don't use it for privacy's sake), so I can't help there. Sorry.
-T
I can't get Keith's pooch either. But I'm not a Facebook member or whatever you have to be. It wants you to login, etc. I figured out that's why I'm excluded.
ReplyDeleteHola Everyone, A quick rather easy puzzle today. I did get the theme and had all the "bars" in easily. I didn't spell Parc with a C, but a K. Nestles Krunch looked just fine to me. So technically a DNF for me.
ReplyDeleteI thought the clues for Name, Idol and Pats were all fun.
My granddaughter took a trip to Canada to see some rock concert, and I had "Loonies" to give to her that we had brought back and not exchanged before entering the US. She appreciated them, and I didn't have them in my car console bridge toll stash anymore. A win win for both of us.
My paper was missing the section with our LAT crossword yesterday, so I will go back and read yesterday's blog a bit later. I didn't do the puzzle and really missed my fix.
I've never watched LOST, either. I'm also not watching DOME which some people are liking. We tend more toward mysteries, and sitcom comedy or Masterpiece Theater. Not much of a Sci-Fi fan.
Have a great day, everyone.
I am active on Facebook and I cannot see Nacho, sorry KF.
ReplyDeleteWell, thanks, all for trying!
ReplyDeleteI guess F'book isn't keeping up with my changed privacy settings. To get around that, I am switching my profile photo to show you-- Mr. Nacho!
He looks like he could be the Frito bandito.
ReplyDeleteJD, Jill, and I had a great coffee "hour" yesterday. Garlic Gal couldn't make it as she was still cleaning up from the Gilroy Garlic Festival. She is very involved with that big event every year.
ReplyDeleteI had errands to run this morning. I HAD to spend my $10.00 cash from Kohls before it expired. I now have another $10.00
cash reward which expires in two days. As you can tell I spent $10.00 plus at the Department store. I think that is the reason Kohl's gives out those incentives. I don't think it, I know it!!
WEES. Adres/Ososoz...who knew?
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed the coffee hour with the Ladies yesterday. I'll make it next time.
Yes, the Garlic Festival had us jumping - 102,000+ visitors over the 3 days. The best news is that folks were spending $$$! The $10 million mark was hit (over 35 yrs.) which means the participating non-profits will reap the rewards.
Now I can take a breath and slip back into summer time mode!
Hasta La Bye Bye
Señor Nacho is a cutie-pooch! Thanks for sharing, Keith.
ReplyDeleteI think the dumbest thing that they have done on Dome is drop a (nuclear?) bomb on it! All the surrounding territory was razed. Now it is raining in the dome.
ReplyDeleteI, too, thought the ending of Lost was ridiculous.
Garlic Gal, mucho kudos to you for your work on the garlic festival. Its success has been in the news.
ReplyDeleteAs for television viewing, my wife and I have become avid viewers of MHz network which broadcasts several foreign language mysteries (cop shows) that we like, a couple in Swedish and a couple in French. Our favorite is the "Commisario Montalbano" series in Italian, set in Cicily. Lots of fun.
Fond wishes to you all.
Fermatprime, Mari, Irish Miss and anyone I may have forgotten.... :)
ReplyDeleteMy copy of Under The Dome is 1072 pages and all small print... :) I have read it... I have not watched it on tv...... and I'm surprised that it is more than a made for tv movie.... I did see it advertised and didn't look into it any further.... of the steven king books gone to tv I have always found the book better.....
Needless to say I cannot answer your questions about the show.... I don't remember the book word for word of course.... but I would say this.... by all means.... read the book.... :) :) :) and remember who the author is... :)
I have been enjoying most the puzzles... :) and always the write ups... should have a bit more time here soon... my grandson has been here since school has been out and that changes the course and time of just about anything in this house.... :) school starts next monday the 5th I think it is..... way too early in my book.... but they didn't ask me.... :) of course he is not overjoyed.... :)
Good to see you back Tinbeni and also, Average Joe and Gunghy... have been wondering where Rampy might be... ?
Thanx many times over to all that make the corner such a nice place to visit....
thelma
I loved the parallel bars and habanero videos. (How does one feel bad for someone who posts a video of themselves doing something embarrassing?)
ReplyDeleteI always find interesting links here. Keep them coming.
- BB
Good evening all, and thank you Steve for helping me fill in my last 3 blanks,
ReplyDeleteI refused to look anything up today, so didn't complete aMosoz and oRto crossing adReM. Otherwise,most everything went quite smoothly. When I wagged cork, rhesus, oster and loon I just kept mumbling, "I didn't know that."So thanks Susan!
I ran thru the ABC's to fill in sneeZe. I'm one of those oddballs who sneeze when leaving a dark theater into bright sunlight... just 1 little sneeze. It has always been strange.
Bill at 3:23- my thought exactly about that video. And why didn't she go get something??? I would never try a pepper. Just mild ones put my lips on fire.
Chickie, my new favorite summer program is Endeavor.Sometimes it's hard to understand with their heavy accents.
On to August.....
JD:
ReplyDeleteI love Endeavour, too, though I record it then backtrack when I can't understand the dialog. Sometimes it takes two or three short rewinds, but I love it anyway.
Keith:
Your Nacho is so cute!
Lucina, I have that same trouble with some shows, mainly the British shows like Endeavour, Downton Abbey, Foyle's War, etc. So I turn on the Closed Captioning or subtitles whenever I need help.
ReplyDeleteKeith - nice workaround... Cute pup.
ReplyDeleteI was just catching up on the paper - perhaps this was noted already, but CBS has ordered the second season of "Dome." King will write the first episode... I don't watch the program, but maybe I'll TiVo it.
Marti - Glad the cat is OK. Also, I don't think it was disparaging to Chicago - I'm proud to see the home-state of my youth still makes things.
CED - keep the videos coming. Parallel bars was funny.
Cheers,
-T