Theme: Definition puzzle, type 3.
Week 4 of the Friday definition theme. The first two were classic clecho clues, just one clue for all the theme answers; last week we had modified definition clues, and this week we have three answers to the same clue, but you need the reveal to unlock the clue. Through perps I was able to solve HIDDEN HAZARD, but I thought IT'S A WONDER was also part of the theme, luckily my special amusing muse steered me in right direction and then I 'got' the reveal which told us the three numbered clues were PHRASES meaning CATCH. Cool! This is my second time blogging Jeffrey, who provided 5 Thursdays this year for Marti, including before and after her vacation, some really fun work and 9 LAT in the past year. Let us go unravel this one.
20A. See 56-Across : HIDDEN HAZARD. (12). You will sell me a car for $1,000.00, what's the CATCH?
31A. See 56-Across : BALL TOSSING GAME. (15) Hey son, let's go play CATCH.
41A. See 56-Across : GOOD TYPE TO MARRY. (15). I can't believe she married the Prince, he was quite a CATCH.
56A. Some slogans, and what 20-, 31- and 41-Across are? : CATCH PHRASES.(12). A tight theme, but I know many of you do not like self-referential cluing. But it is Friday, so enjoy.
Across:
1. Use an updraft, say : SOAR.
5. Pacific veranda : LANAI.
10. Shoe site : HOOF. Already Jeffrey' s sense of humor shows as he horses around with the clues
14. "___ la Douce" : IRMA. Shirley MacLaine again.
15. Mission attacked by Santa Anna : ALAMO. Mission San Antonio de Valero.
16. "Betsy's Wedding" director : ALDA. Alan of M*A*S*H fame.
17. Alfred E. Neuman expression : GRIN. This had me thinking how to fit, "What, me worry?" in 4 spaces.
18. "I can't believe..." : IT'S A WONDER. Butter?
22. Winner of a record 82 PGA tournaments : SNEAD. Slamming Sammy, Tiger has won 80 and counting.
23. Cheer from Charo : OLE. Xavier Cugat' s second wife. CUCHI CUCHI.(0:39).
24. Bring down : ABASE.
28. Top : LID.
30. Book between Micah and Habakkuk : NAHUM. A minor prophet who is unknown to most. LINK.
38. Id checker : EGO. My favorite misdirection for a 3 letter clue; in Freud's world the ID and EGO and SUPER EGO worked to achieve balance.
39. Get up : ROUSE.
40. Comparative suffix : IER.
46. Mail at a castle : ARMOR. Another well done clue, chain mail.
47. SSA IDs, e.g. : NOS.
48. Discrimination : TASTE. Discrimination= bad. Discrimination= good.
49. Gay Nineties, e.g. : ERA.
52. Catherine of "A Mighty Wind" : O'HARA. One of the many who came from SCTV.
59. Response to an awkwardly timed call : I'M NOT ALONE. And I have no way to hold the phone...
62. Whiff : MISS. A baseball term, which reminds of the great announcer Marty Glickman, who coined many now common basketball phrases including SWISH for when the ball goes into the net without hitting anything else. While many my age will recall the name from his work with baseball and football announcing, he was a world class sprinter on the 1936 Olympic team with Jesse Owens.
63. Bed or bar attachment : ROOM. I was thinking about young ladies, but....
64. Discussion group : PANEL.
65. Actress McClurg : EDIE.
66. "___ these days..." : KIDS.
67. Signal to a runner : STEAL. The last baseball clue, well maybe.
68. Negative impression? : DENT. I am sure there was no more negative impression in New England than this ONE.(0:39).
Down:
1. Chorus from adoring fans : SIGHS. Anyone see Miley Cyrus 'perform' at the VMAs? As a parent, sigh.
2. Hatch of Utah : ORRIN. Non-political LINK.
3. Nitrogen compound : AMIDE. I get confused with AMINE but I am sure one of our chemically inclined posters will explain the concepts.
4. Unger player : RANDALL. Tony with Jack Klugman in
5. "This skull hath ___ in the earth...": Hamlet : LAIN. Act V, where the gravedigger tells Hamlet it is 'poor Yorick', the jester whose skull it is.
6. E'en if : ALTHO. Eh, it was easy but not an abbreviation I enjoy.
7. ___ passage : NASAL. So many passages, but Nasal fit the bill.
8. Knock the socks off : AMAZE.
9. Eastern segment of the Louisiana Purchase : IOWA.
10. Purse : HANDBAG.
11. Unoriginal : OLD. Which if you are ill, sounds like
12. Tribute in verse : ODE. Which was a theme. Marti, do you remember the puzzles, with COLD/CODE etc.?
13. Word with flung or reaching : FAR.
19. Sumatran ape : ORANG. I like the coffee.
21. Put in a word or two? : EDIT. I really like the simplicity of this clue
25. Win by ___ : A HAIR. I guess years of hanging with gamblers made A NOSE seem so right, but since we already had NASAL.....
26. Ancient Mesopotamian kingdom : SUMER. Credited with being the home of the written WORD, without which there would be no crossword puzzles, no puns and no Corner.
27. Buffing board : EMERY.
29. Flat-bottomed boat : DORY. Didn't we just have this word?
31. Brought forth : BEGAT. Another Biblical word.
32. Ancient gathering place : AGORA. With SUMER, NAHUM, we have some history going on.
33. Towers (over) : LOOMS.
34. Conciliatory offering : SOP.
35. Advice after an injury, perhaps : SUE. The bastards is the complete legal term.
36. Real end? : IST. Realist.
37. Commercial sign : NEON.
42. Targets of many searches : DOT COMS. This was hard for me to parse but once the perps were in, it made sense.
43. Unexpected pleasure : TREAT.
44. Marshy wasteland : MOOR.
45. Red in the face : ASHAMED.
49. Fanfare : ECLAT.
50. Van Gogh's "Starry Night Over the ___" : RHONE.
51. Nighttime disorder : APNEA. Sleep apnea is another more common ailment in modern times, maybe because it gets diagnosed more.
53. Dramatic device : ASIDE. Back to Shakespeare, and all his lovely characters speaking conspiratorially with the audience.
54. Frankincense or myrrh : RESIN. I did not know this and confuse rosin/resin.
55. Black-ink entry : ASSET. Nice clue; we have disagreements with clients who do not want to sign in blue ink.
57. Lights-out signal : TAPS.
58. Inferno : HELL. Dante's was ice.
59. Rub the wrong way : IRK.
60. Word of feigned innocence : MOI? Feigned? The ORIGINAL.(4:48).
61. Subtle assent : NOD. Hopefully the room is filled with subtle assents, that our day is done and the fine effort from JW pleased your puzzling palates. Labor day ahead on the near horizon, so enjoy the long week end, and thanks for tuning in.
Lemonade out.
87 comments:
Morning, all!
Running late today...
This one started off way too easy for a Friday (filled in the top third in record time). And then I hit NAHUM (which I misspelled as NAHAM) and everything ground to a halt after that. I managed to get HIDDEN HAZARD solely via the perps, but just couldn't get either of the other two theme answers even after getting the theme reveal at CATCH PHRASES.
I never did understand the theme, to be honest, but I did eventually get enough perps to guess at the other theme answers. Without understanding the theme, however, BALL TOSSING GAME and GOOD TYPE TO MARRY just seemed like random and not particularly "in the language" phrases. It wasn't until I got here that the light bulb finally went off (or on, for that matter).
Aside from the theme answers, the rest of the puzzle was pretty straightforward. But since I had no idea what was going on and needed every single perp for each theme answer, it still ended up being hard in the end. DORY in particular held me up, and having ROUST instead of ROUSE didn't help things either.
Hopefully, IM NOT ALONE in my confusion today... ^_^
[ssomenti]
Good morning, gang - a slow but steady solve for me today, and I just did not see any sign of a theme until the end, and even then it took a while to get it. Still don't know about IT'S A WONDER.
My toughest area was the mideast; crossing NAHUM with SUMER is pretty nasty, and the 'U' was just a lucky guess. I also thought that Van Gogh's painting was 'Starry Night Over the RHINE', but I'M NOT A LINE didn't quite cut it.
I thought 'Mail at a castle', 'Lights-out signal' and 'Targets of many searches' were great clues, but overall, the theme left me a bit disgruntled; not sure why, but I should be gruntled again quickly.
Enjoy the long weekend; do something fun! And ignore the dolt above me.
And no, that last comment wasn't meant for you, Barry - I was waiting to let you post first, and finally decided to go ahead and we experienced a simultaneous post; hope it was good for you too.
Hi Y'all! Well, that's a hard comment to follow. I heartily disagree. Interesting puzzle, Jeffrey, thanks! ITS A WONDER I got thru this in 22 minutes. Did a lot of peck & perps.
Thanks for the comments & links, Lemony! I was stunned by the OLE answer since Charo never used one syllable when a paragraph would do. There is a very funny side link to your Cuchi Cuchi link of Charo on the Carol Burnett Show.
1D chorus from adoring fans: SIGH? Really, I was thinking of something louder like "shout".
38A Id checker: I put TSA thinking it was I.D. Duh!
Shoe site = HOOF got a big horse laugh when it filled. Glad he trotted that one out.
Didn't know EDIE or OHARA and couldn't think of BEGAT, AGORA or NAHUM (wanted NAmUn) right off, but finished finally. Wasn't in a Biblical mode.
Anon T, I asked my daughter for the name of the online math programs she used to help my granddaughter who had a poor algebra teacher last year. It is www.KhanAcademy.org. Home schoolers swear by this. Hope it helps your daughter. I think the idea that girls learn math differently from boys is probably true.
I wasn't saying I disagreed with Dennis. There was an earlybird snark who was swiftly eliminated.
Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.
Lemony, thanks for the fun write up - great explanation of the theme. It was a little tricky with the other two long answers in there. But they were not cross-referential like the other three, so I eventually had to let go of the notion that they might be involved in the theme.
Still, a really nice puzzle from Jeffrey, with only one real tricky spot. (NAHUM/SUMER, I'm looking at you!)
BTW, ROSIN is just hardened RESIN, made by heating up the sticky goop that comes off the fir tree. I used a lot of it in my violin-playing ute...
I'm really looking forward to a nice long weekend. TGIF!
Dennis: I'm glad you don't think I'm a dolt and please, never wait for me to post first!
Hello Puzzlers -
Sigh. DNF. Couldn't handle the Biblical bits, plus I mis-sussed the theme, thinking that all the phrases were meant to convey hidden dangers. Now it all makes sense.
Thanks for the fine write up, Lemony.
The top and bottom thirds went quickly.
Hand up for reading ID before Id.
I dredged NAHUM and SUMER up from somewhere.
In the middle it took a while to get TOSS and TYPE. I had the rest of those phrases by perps. The theme did help eventually.
By that time I COMPLETED those phrases, nine (3x3) cells were so blotted I couldn't read them.
I went to Mensa red lettering and typed the two phrases in, along with EGO RO-SE and IER. They were all correct. With thE ink blot cleared away, I immediately saw ROUSE and SUE.
\
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for one tough puzzle, but a good one, nonetheless. Thank you Lemonade, for the fine and insightful, review.
Got started OK, but when I hit the undefined three phrases I really slowed down. Perps to the rescue.
AMIDE was not easy for 3D.
ALTHO was sticky for 6D.
ORANG again. I still think that is short for ORANGUTAN. I think the clue should reflect that, if I am correct, which maybe I am not.
No problem with MAHUM, but SUMER was unknown. Perps.
I had SEINE first for 50D. Then ERA fixed that to RHINE. Then I'M NOT ALONE fixed that to RHONE. OK.
My toughest area was the center. Had SIT for 35D. Had GOOD TIME TO MARRY. Finally figured it all out. DORY was my rosetta stone. So, SUE and GOOD TYPE TO MARRY worked. The last thing I think of is SUING. Not a word I care for.
Off to my day.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(ralogram)
ODE TO PSYCHE by John Keats
O GODDESS! I hear these tuneless numbers, wrung
By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung
Even into thine own soft-conchèd ear:
Surely I dream'd to-day, or did I see
The wingèd Psyche with awaken'd eyes?
I wander'd in a forest thoughtlessly,
And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,
Saw two fair creatures, couchèd side by side
In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof
Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran
A brooklet, scarce espied:
'Mid hush'd, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,
Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian
They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass;
Their arms embracèd, and their pinions too;
Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu,
As if disjoinèd by soft-handed slumber,
And ready still past kisses to outnumber
At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love:
The wingèd boy I knew;
But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?
His Psyche true!
Link entire ODE
I knew of the Sumerians but never dawned on me the country would be Sumer. Duh!
Good morning.
I did not conquer this one...not even close. I had IT'S A WONDER and I'M NOT ALONE, but thought they were supposed to be part of the theme, which I never did get. As a result, my advice to the injured was DIE. I had entered SOP, but couldn't make it work, so I changed it to ARM. After changing A NOSE to A HAIR I got NAHUM, but didn't remember him no how, ho hum. Alas, two DNFs in a row! Shades of Tevye -- "Unheard of! Absurd! Unthinkable!" Alas. But as Scarlet said, "Tomorrow is another day."
I was up early and enjoyed this puzzle. But I read the first snarky comment and decided to wait to say anything.
I started out by getting the first 3 clues. And on a Friday! I kept going and solved the top third of the puzzle. Wow!
Then there was a whole lot of white space, but I solved most of the bottom. (Puzzle looked like an Oreo.)
I started on the down clues and added a few more answers, then slowly I solved the whole thing. I am not going to jump for joy, however, because I had the red letters on and occasionally I would enter a wrong letter like E for A in Snead. I wish I had used Master level--I think I might have solved this puzzle with no help.
I absolutely could not get the theme and I looked for it this morning. Thanks for the expo, Lemon.
Have a safe weekend,
Montana
Sorry, Barry G. There was an ANON on before you very early this am. I wasn't thinking of you when I commented on the first post.
I guess a couple others have said the same thing.
I liked this puzzle.
Montana
Good morning everyone. Thanks for the intro, Lemon.
Yay! Got the Friday puzzle in pen & ink and only had to white-out 3 squares; in the center IST/ROUSE. No lookups needed today except for NAHUM. The Prophetic Books of the OT are not very well ensconced in my wheelhouse. I thought the cw was tough but fair.for an end of week challenge. DOTCOMS was a WAG but I liked it. Good job, Jeffrey.
In honor of Labor Day coming up, here is a video of some Bud Clydesdale commercials. The last one with the snow is quite funny. BTW, Canada celebrates Labor Day on the same Monday.
Have a great day.
Lemonade, great blog ,
RESIN - the gum stuff from (pine etc.) trees, that oozes out, when the tree is scratched.
ROSIN - Resin, as above, boiled to remove all volatile, light liquids. The tar / gunk that remains, .is Rosin, .. .. for rubbing on violins etc. lol. (. Hi. Marti ! )
AMINE - the alkalis --- the Organic bases of Organic ( What else ?) chemistry.
Has a Nitrogen (N) atom in there somewhere ....
Such as - Aniline, Caffeine, Nicotene (Cigarettes, anyone ?), Quinine, Cocaine (snort ), Atropine, Strychnine (ugh!), Morphine, Codeine, Heroin.
But not just any heroine.
AMIDE -- =. Organic Acid + Ammonia.
Has 'N' plus a CO -- carboxyl. group.
SUCH AS ;;- benzamide, Thalidomide, Diazepam (Valium), DEET in 'OFF', Phenobarbital, 5 different types off penicillin , and a million other dyes and dyestuffs for cosmetics, food and fabrics.
Take notes, there'll be a quiz after Labor Day ....
Don't eat too much, don't drink too much, and better still stay at home.
Spitz
The Bud Clydesdale ads were a treat. Thanks.
WEll, I had SIENE instead of RHONE so I never stood a chance.
And, no, I never got the animal aspect of yesterday's theme until I read the comments.
OWM,
Thank you. I know there will be a reader out there who will fill in the blanks in my knowledge on many subjects. Though despite marti, I think for C.C. and I the rosin is in a bag next to the pitcher's mound.
Now what is the difference between the resin which oozes from pine trees and the sap which oozes from maple trees?
Good Morning:
This was a DNF due to troublesome area, had arise instead of rouse, arm instead of sop, sit and then lie instead of sue, etc. I wagged Sumer/Nahum and also had to change a nose to a hair.
Very challenging, Jeffrey, but I found it frustrating, so I'll side with Thumper. Nice write- up, Lemony, as always.
My pique with the puzzle has completely evaporated after watching Spitz's video of the Budweiser Clydesdales. Loved all of them, especially Daisy the Dancing Horse running away with her "beau," and Jake, the "Rocky Balboa" of Clydesdales. Thanks, Spitz, for putting a big smile on a previously grumpy face! Also liked the real Dalmation and the "accidental" one!
Have a great Friday.
Well, I can't believe I finally got this because it sure was a toughie. That middle section was just a bear, and even after I got it, I didn't "get" it until Lemonade explained the CATCH meaning of each phrase. Doh! So, tough as it was, there was satisfaction in the end--many thanks, Jeffrey.
Otherwise, WBS (what Barry said).
I frankly still don't get WHIFF being MISS?
Ah, but how nice to see a reference to Tony RANDALL as Felix Unger, one of my favorite TV characters of all time. I actually met him once, in Tulsa of all places.
Speaking of someone else my husband and I met, I was sad to read of the passing of the Irish poet Seamus Heaney this morning. We met him once in Dublin. Mortality . . . can't live with it, can't live without it.
Have a good Friday, everybody.
Lemon: Thank you for explaining my Rorschach Ink Blot ...
Damn, I couldn't even "Remember the ALAMO" ... LOL !!!
When I think of (Felix) Unger, from "The Odd Couple" I think of Jack Lemmon before Tony RANDALL.
"____these days..." wanted "ONE OF" before KIDS showed up.
I've heard "Win by___"A NOSE" ... not "Win by____A HAIR ..."
Agree with D-Otto, "Tomorrow is Another Day!"
Irish Miss: Thumper's review (:11) for you (and me, too!)
Cheers!!!
Spitzboov, thanks for posting those old Bud commercials - I really got a chuckle out of them, but my favorite was the "streaker", third to last.
Lemony - Oh, I didn't think about that rosin.
Greetings, all!
Lemonade, you AMAZE me every week with your ability to parse even the most obscure of puzzles.
No, Barry, you are NOT ALONE.
IT'S A WONDER that I finished, though not ALONE. Had to search NAHUM in my Bible and didn't know O'HARA, I'm ASHAMED to admit.
As others have noted, working around the themes was fairly easy but the center especially gave me fits. RAISE then ARISE and never thought of ROUSE so that was a big mess. I erased DORY several times and couldn't make it work.
I attribute all this mental confusion to receiving a very early morning call from the east coast which awoke me from a deep slumber. I'll be glad when we are two hours apart instead of three.
But thanks to Jeffrey Wechsler for a very challenging and clever puzzle.
YR:
I really enjoy the poetry you post. Thank you. I had been missing that.
Have a fantastic Friday and weekend, everyone! Hair cut and nails for me today. Yay!
Misty, WHIFF is an onomatopoeia for the sound of when you swing at something and MISS. Common in baseball and embarrassing in golf.
This one caught me. I was left with ROISE instead of ROUSE, letting my eyes misread it so I wouldn't have to have another go at the middle of the pzl. This also left me with SIT instead of SUE (not a bad answer, but still...)
I started the NW corner with MATTHAU instead of RANDALL, but came around on that because Walter (and Jack K) were Oscar, not Felix.
All in all, I agree with Barry G that the theme answers seemed awfully random. There was never an "aha" moment, such as we get when the logical linkage dawns on us.
There is a wonderful documentary on HBO on Marty Glickman and his life, from high school on. If you like sports and humanity, the show has it all.(Thanks G.)
Not looking to step on toes here, but I like the Randall/Klugman version of the Odd Couple much more than the Lemmon/Matthau.
NPR fans: last night's taping of Wait Wait was fabulous. Tanglewood was green and beautiful, and the well behaved crowd of 8,000 loved the humor. Peter Sagal warmed up the audience, and off we went for nearly two hours - the show is evidently edited down to fit the time slot. Hahtoolah, you're in for a treat!
By the way, the guest was pianist Emanual Ax, a remarkable funny and humble man, seated for the first time without a piano on the familiar stage. He more than held his own with the comedy!
Tin @ 11:15 - Nice to know it wasn't just grumpy me who felt that way. BTW, what is the price of Dewar's 1.75 liter in your area? There is a liquor store in a suburb of Albany that now offers home delivery. This is good news for me as they have the lowest prices in the area, especially on wine. The two grocery chains that home deliver are going like gangbusters, so I'm sure this will be a success, as well. Cheers!
Dudley @ 12:16 - I agree with you 100 per cent. Not to take anything away from Lemmon or Matthau, two terrific actors, but Tony Randall and Jack Klugman were Felix and Oscar personified. Sort of like Bogie and Rick! (-:
Hola Everyone, What Barry said! THis was a DNF for me as I had to Google some of the answers.
Hands up for Foot instead of Hoof and Nose for Hair. O'Hare was an unknown as was Nahum. Those were lookups.
My favorites today: Negative impression/Dent, and Mail at a Castle/Armor. Whiff was a nice misdirection, also.
Have a good day everyone. Mine is busy as the apples are falling fast. I want to pick some of the nicer ones before the squirrels get to them. For some reason they pick the best, take one bite and leave them sitting on top of the fence!!!!
Enjoy this nice long weekend.
Oops! O'Hara, not O'Hare. Also, Barry I meant to say you were not alone in your understanding of the theme. Thank goodness for Lemon's write up or I would still be scratching my head and pulling out my hair.
From Dog Mama
Thank you Spitz for the link. I think they are among the finest adds ever produced.
Still lurking and enjoying the blog and posts. What a talented,smart, witty and kind group.
I am anonymous only because I don't know how to have an avatar or, for that mater, any other identity. My computer shills are very limited.
This AARP north Fl. Owner of three dogs wishes all of you well.
Irish Miss:
Dewar's White Label (8yo) 1.75 liter is $ 27.99
Dewar's 12yo 1.75 liter is $ 49.99
Dimple Pinch 15yo 1.75 liter is $ 46.99
So much scotch ... So little time ...
Cheers!!!
24 Down...SOP...I don't get it. Anybody?
Anon (1:18) From my desktop dictionary. Sop: 1 a thing given or done as a concession of no great value to appease someone whose main concerns or demands are not being met.
Dog Mama (1:07) If you e-mail some of the people on this blog or check some of the help features in the right-hand column, you can find out how to go blue and get an avatar. If you click on a person's blue name, you will get to their profile and many folks have their e-mail address listed. Good luck!
For all the New England posters, did none of you watch and want to complain about my Dent link?
you are soooo needy, jeeesh!
Thanks for the explanation of WHIFF, Argyle. Since I'm not a sportie, makes me feel less dumb.
As much as I enjoy lurking here and reading the posts, I hope that my newspaper starts running a different crossword.
Puzzles like these are frustrating and not very enjoyable. I do the crossword to escape frustration, not add to it.
Even though I solved it, I was left unsatisfied.
All too much recently, the puzzles have sadly been like this.
JMO
Best to you all,
"The Lurker"
Some SOP from Shakespeare's King Lear:
Oswald. What dost thou know me for?
Earl of Kent. A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud,
shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy,
worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver'd, action-taking, whoreson,
glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; 1090
one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of
good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave,
beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch;
one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deny the
least syllable of thy addition. 1095
Oswald. Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus to rail on one
that's neither known of thee nor knows thee!
Earl of Kent. What a brazen-fac'd varlet art thou, to deny thou knowest me!
Is it two days ago since I beat thee and tripp'd up thy heels
before the King? [Draws his sword.] Draw, you rogue! for, though 1100
it be night, yet the moon shines. I'll make a SOP o' th'
moonshine o' you. Draw, you whoreson cullionly barbermonger!
draw!
Ugh, ugh ugh.
BALL TOSSING GAME? Really?
Is that in English translated from some foreign language?
HIDDEN HAZARD? Who says that?
GOOD TYPE TO MARRY?
(WHIFF)
Steeerike three!
I'm not even going to heed Thumper today.
Tin, thanks for the pricing. I pay $33.99 for the 1.75 liter. One more example of New York State's onerous taxes.
Lemony, this Yankee fan loved your Dent link!
If BALL TOSSING GAME and GOOD TYPE TO MARRY are common CATCH PHRASES, I gotta start hanging out in a more literate crowd. Did Jeffrey really have them first and build around them?
Musings
-IRMA, ah, the good hearted hooker – she’ll do it on anything but credit
-Interesting six part Alan ALDA interview
-If this keeps happening to Tiger (1:24), he won’t catch SNEAD
-Schools sometimes ROUSE us subs out of a deep morning APNEA
-Most peeps around here have 506 or 507 as their first three SS#’s
-My favorite EDIE McGlurg (1:41) role
-New Royal Jamie Carroll had just been traded from the Twins and the Twinkies had to change their STEAL sign
-Bucky DENT’s “out of the blue” choked-up homer was fun to see again, Lemon
-RANDALL’s OCD Felix was a precursor to Parson’s Sheldon
-Keats must have known that URN and ODE would keep his poetry alive in cwds
-I used ICE before I thought to SUE
-As long as you spell Miley’s name correct, she won’t be ASHAMED
-Do you remember George Burns’ ASIDES on TV?
-Is there any Black Ink left in DC?
-The Clydesdales were here two weeks ago
O'Hara was also in Betsy's Wedding
Happy Friday everybody!
Late to the show today because Chi Trib, Merriam Web, Mensa sites didn't work this morn for me. Finally got onto Chi Trib this pm....
NECTAF for me (not even close to a finish). Very frustrating. Came to the Corner to get answers, still not happy with the theming, and I like to play catch!
Is there a harder than Saturday rating...?
Regarding the Odd Couple, I thought they would never live up to the movie, but I was wrong. Same initial impression with MASH, how could they top the movie? Somehow ALDA and Rogers (and some excellent writing) managed the trick. My favorite line from the Odd Coupe TV show was when Felix was admitting to some of his neatnik flaws, and told of the time when he asked what he wanted for his 10th birthday. His wish was for a trash can...l
-Now here are some real CATCH PHRASES
-Doc, I preferred the grittiness of the movie M*A*S*H and some of the earlier episodes before they jumped the shark and became PC. It’s 100F here, what’s it like in Doha?
The theme is not catch phrases, it is phrases which can be clued with the single word CATCH. The reveal is telling you the definition of the unclued answers are phrases defined by CATCH. The theme answers are not supposed to be common phrases but word combinations which literally mean CATCH.
Dudley @12;16 Hand up for preferring Randall/Klugman.i watched all their TV episodes.
Irish Miss @ 2:00 hand up for admiring Bucky Dent. Go Yankees!
Loved the Clydesdales clip. Thank you, Spitz.
HG. I had I.C.E. before SUE, also .
Spitz. I enjoyed your King lear selection. I read that "I’ll make a sop o th moonshine o you." means, “I’ll dump you in the water where, sopping wet, you will float "on the refection of the moonshine."
Here is one origin of "give a sop to" meaning placate.
Cerberus (also Kerberos) was the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to Hades, the infernal region in classical mythology. Ancient Greeks and Romans used to put a slice of cake in the hands of their dead to help pacify Cerberus on the way. This custom gave rise to the idiom "to give a sop to cerberus" meaning to give a gift to quiet a troublesome person.
Hi gang -
There is no gainsaying the technical achievement of this puzzle. However, like a few others here, I found myself not liking it much.
A DNF, too, mainly because of the mid-section.
I fell into the trap of thinking 18A and 59A were part of the theme, though the 56A clue should have disabused me of that mistaken notion.
Still I consider having non-theme fill positioned and looking like theme fill is a construction flaw. Add in a theme composed of decidedly not in-the-language phrases and we've got a namesake for the other guy who played Felix.
Plus a Bible book nobody knows, two rather obscure actresses, and a director not noted for his directing. I guess you can call that misdirection.
OTOH, Lemony's write up was stellar.
I do enjoy playing catch with Nate, and married the right type. Which probably is A WONDER.
Plus the Tigers pulled off an exciting 9th inning win yesterday, and avoided a sweep.
So I'm pretty gruntled after all.
Happy week end everyone.
Cool regards!
JzB
Hello everybody. I sure didn't get the catch gimmick at all until reading Lemonade's clear explanation. Hand up for ice instead of SUE. My advice would be to ice the injury; I would never advise anybody to sue. Man oh man, the Earl of Kent was sure articulate! Best wishes to you all.
Spitzboov,
You remind me of one of the great pleasures of acting in Shakespeare. Many moons ago, back in the '50s, I played Oswald in KING LEAR at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Years past, decades fly by, and after playing several other Shakespearean parts, big and small, it became my turn to play Lear himself--this time as a guest artist in an MFA director's thesis show. (This was ten years ago, and now I joke that I'm no longer old enough to play the part.)
The beautiful thing in playing the king is that I had stored up a vivid memory of that old OSF version of the play, so half the battle (learning the lines, having a sense of the possible rhythms and melodies) was already accomplished, and I had the luxury of adjusting and fine-tuning rather than just going for the basics.
For an old actor, Shakespeare is always there.
YR@2:53:
Thank you for jogging my memory about SOP. My mind tried in vain to dredge it up but obviously it was deeply embedded until I read your post and that rattled some cobwebs.
Our neighbor invited us out for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I saw something that looked moderate for lunch; soup, small salad, sandwich. But it was huge. Big bowl of soup, the Caesar salad had anchovies on it as I'd asked for but they must have used the whole tin and the sandwich was large too. it sounds like a good deal but it was so much food it was almost unappetizing. Then we split a piece of cheesecake for dessert. Too much food! I was hoping to see Kaley Cuoco but no such luck.
I could tell that the talking DNA in women and men is different. I almost got whiplash trying to get a word in edgewise.
Keith Fowler, I do hope you realize your plans to revive the radio dramas on your campus, as you mentioned last night. We love to stream radio, and it would be wonderful to hear some of those old dramas! Keep me posted, will you?
Dudley, sounds like you had a great time at the NPR taping last night - I am so jealous! If I had known about it beforehand, I would definitely have tried to make it. I will have to make a note to check out their schedule next year, since I think the season is wrapping up this weekend.
I think we have Gremlins on the blog! I had a post disappear yesterday and again today. I posted right after reading pas de chat's post but it's not here.
Anyway, I said that Spitz gave me a smile with the Clydesdales but pas gave me a belly laugh with her unThumper-like review and that I was still laughing.
I also said that I agreed 100 per cent with Dudley about Randall and Klugman vs Lemmon and Matthau.. As good as Lemmon and Matthau were, Tony and Jack were the personification of Felix and Oscar. Sort of the same as Bogie and Rick!
I'm gonna split the bill on this puzzle. It wasn't a favorite, but it was a challenge and I did get it in the end...albeit with a major wag on the U where Nahum met Sumer. Even got the theme, but it was a bit obscure.
I'm also gonna split the bill on Odd Couples. Jack Lemmon is a fine actor and I enjoy him a lot (particularly in The Fortune Cookie)' but Tony Randall nailed Felix in the series. But Walter Matthau defined the role of Oscar. Jack was an also ran, IMO. One of the greater pleasures in my life was playing Oscar in a little theater production when I was a young man.
I'm also gonna split the bill on MASH. Robert Altman disowned the series because it was so far from being true to the original story. I agree. The movie is one of the best of all time, especially the shower scene with Sally Kellerman. But the series was very good in its own right....just not the same story.
As you were.
Re my post of 4:28, I erred on the reference to Dudley. That was in an earlier post. Sorry.
Lemon, Bucky Dent was a signer at a card show in Ct a some years ago. I had him personalize an autograph to my son on a photo with him jumping on home plate. after the HR. My son is a huge Sox fan. Can't repeat what he said. Then tried to return it for fathers day. My guess is it is now dust in a refuge somewhere in Newburyport.
Irish Miss - I show both your posts; 1101 re: the Clydsdales and 2pm following pas de chat re: the cost of Dewar's.
Dog Mama - Welcome aboard.
Keith Fowler - Interesting comments about you Shakespeare experiences. Thanks for sharing.
YR - Good SOP comments. Found out that 'fop' means 'barbermonger'. Future clue maybe?
Glad that so many liked the Clydesdale ads video.
Have a great weekend all. Here's today's treat.
C.C., thanks for the birthday shout out to Truman. Between subbing, taking Truman to Petroglph ( a ceramic glazing place) after school, and the family birthday celebration (yes, we wore those silly hats!), I had no time to do more than 1/4th of yesterday's puzzle.Today is pretty much the same except I'm off to soccer practice.
I don't get the Thumper reference. Why do people keep talking about Thumper.
Captain Not-so-obvious
Well, todays puzzle was just too hard for me, & I spent the morning trying to change red letters to black. However the write up & Blog were as interesting as ever, until I came upon a post from Husker Gary (@2:01) that said "interesting 6 part Alan Alda Interview."
Well, having just seen the reunion special of M*A*S*H* yesterday, I was intrigued!
Husker,,, I am now at 24:03 of a 28 minute interview THAT IS ONLY PART ONE OF SIX!?!?
I am sucked in... there is no escape... I want to turn it off, but I can't!!! But wait a sec, here at 24:03 is a reference to an old radio show called "Quiet Please." maybe this is my chance to escape, I open a new tab & start playing The Thing on the Fourble board
Imagine, if you will, an 11 year old Alan Alda, glued to the radio, (there is no TV.) listening to this story....
P.S. it's 25:34 long & beware of being sucked in... Oh, & @ 8:00 I got a little bored & Googled Fourble Board, but somehow, they knew,,, & at 9:00 they explained everything better than Google ever could! Bwaa Ha Ha......!!!
Spitz @ 5:11 - Right you are but there was another post re pas de chat's post that was missing. I have since reposted my comment.
I liked the theme. Lemon @2:46, my thoughts exactly. This puzzle reminds me of another Friday one where the clues and the answers seemed to be switched. In this one both were part of the gird. The answer was CATCH PHRASES and the clues were 3 different definitions of CATCH PHRASES, not catch phrases themselves. The theme definitely helped. HIDDEN HAZARD is quite common. At some shore spots this summer people wading in the Atlantic had to watch for hidden hazards caused by Hurricane Sandy debris.
18A and 59A didn't bother me because 59A pointed out the numbers of the theme answers.
After further dealing with my current omnishambles all day, it is good to sit back with a glass of Merlot and truly savor the puzzle.
Thumper reference: Clip
My deceased FIL, who spent his life with Westinghouse, told the story of being in charge of entertaining Sam Snead for the company. At a table of guys, he remarked "Sam,tell blah blah about some story." Snead said to him, "Its Mr Snead to you". I can only think of that for Snead's accomplishments.
Creature, it's good to see you.
Not to diminish the weight of your comment, but I'm gonna tell a story on the opposite side of the good/evil divide. For every Yin there's a Yang.
I have a niece that lives in the NE part of the Dallas area. She was driving down a major road one day and ran out of gas. While she was standing beside her stranded car an expensive limo with a driver and an exec type in the back stopped to ask if they could help. The problem was obvious, but the solution wasn't.
At first, the driver said "I'll come back and get you after I've dropped off my passenger". Then, after some discussion between the driver and the passenger, the driver said "Oh get in. We'll get this fixed." She did get in and they proceeded to a large office complex where the exec type was dropped off, making small talk along the way. Then the driver and my niece went to a gas station and got a can of gas (on the drivers nickel), returned to her car and put it in the tank so that she could be on her way. Along the way the drive asked my niece if she had any idea who the VIP passenger had been. No, was her reply.
It was Ross Perot.
True story.
Is there a blog like this for NYT crossword? Have enjoyed this one for quite a while, but feel so deflated after finishing (or not!) the NYT one, want to have answers and themes explained, someone to share frustrations with...
Thanks!
There are other blogs but none like this one!
Avg Joe, great story about Perot.
I recounted my fil 's tale in honor of him and to get the last word in on Snead. What a jerk!
Here's to you, Bill, Sr!
Average Joe: I liked the Ross Perot story. That is a good example of who he really is. I am proud to say I voted for him twice.
Abejo
(grepuip)
Creature:
Thanks for dropping in. Nice to hear from you again.
Abejo
(dwomen)
Evening all,
Theme didn't thrill me but just my opinion. Ashamed to say this but 4D left me scratching my head. Unger player had to be sports and Randall has to be a college somewhere, Right?
And I always watch "The Odd Couple" at night. It just didn't click!
Nicole caught a ride home for the long weekend and it is good to see her. My, she is maturing so fast and quite responsibly.
CED! RE: YEST:!!! Damn! You got me!
Busted! I didn't notice the screen pic til Bill's comment.
So for that, a humble OOPS
Abejo, I really enjoy following you on the blog. Nice to hear from you.
Spitz, I really enjoyed the Clydesdale commercials. A good commercial is a miniature work of art.
Wow! Here are some fantastic images of recent auroras. The video (third one down) is spectacular, especially in full-screen HD. Enjoy! Auroras from NBC homepage
Oh Lemon,
As a lifelong New Englander. In 1978 I was in Tehran with Abejo probably having a beer at the same time and place. I don't think their state run television would ever show a Yankee's Red sox game:)
Creature
great to see you, hope you are well
Lemon
Great write-up ! Thanks for all your hard work.. I've been following daily and am slowly getting pulled back into the comments.. So many good remarks and interesting folks here.
creature:
It's great to see you!!
Lucinda, I've tried to email you and won't go though. Could you e-mail me? Thanks!
HG, it's 105 here. Been triple digits every day for about four months running. But it's not the heat, it's the humidity. That and the fact that it doesn't "cool down" more than 20 degrees at night. Whenever I walk out of air conditioning, my glasses fog up for a couple of minutes....
Manac, that OOPS was too funny!
BlueIris:
I sent you an e-mail.
G'Night All -
Another day in the salt mine and just came up for air. The puzzle was a wash. I got So. Cal and Texas areas of the puzzle with a smattering up north. As far as the theme - way to clever for me... I was thinking "Where's the Beef?" or some other IRKsome CATCHPHRASE. The V8 can totally missed me!
Jeffey (Mr. Wechsler to me!), thanks for an over-challenging puzzle. Lem - I'd have gone nuts without your writeup. Thanks.
I missed the early AM dramma, but it sounds like the Friday Snark was up before Barry G. Some HELL s/he must live in... /SIGHS
PK - Thanks for reminding me of KhanAccadamy.org. That will be daughter's virtual tutor when I have late meetings (BTW, she aced today's quiz!).
The Bud commercial were great as what the S*IT cartoon. Thanks for lightening up my eve.
Dudly - WWDTM is my new fave NPR show since Car Talk went to re-runs last year. I've always wondered about the tape / crowd time v. broadcast time (and what was cut). I expect a full report with what was EDITed-out. I want it on my desk tomorow after the program. :-)
Cheers!
-T
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