Theme: "Grid Lines" - Familiar phrases are re-interpreted as if they are lines spoken in the situation specified in the clues.
23A. Borderline? : PAPERS, PLEASE. The airport immigration officers actually just looked at my visa. The visa guy at the American Consulate in Guangzhou checked my various papers.
29A. Deadline? : I'M IN HEAVEN. I'm still undecided about heaven.
43A. Beeline? : I LOVE YOU, HONEY. For Melissa, who is taking extended leave from our blog due to family matter.
60A. Skyline? : GET OFF OF MY CLOUD. The Rolling Stones song. Slight dupe with the OFF at the intersecting RUNOFF.
68A. Dateline? : YOUR PLACE OR MINE. So apt.
90A. Neckline? : KISS ME, YOU FOOL. Argyle said it's "A classic line from romantic comedies". Where did it originate?
102A. Unemployment line? : YOU'RE FIRED. Donald Trump.
111A. Foul line? : THAT'S NOT FAIR. So who are you rooting for: Cardinals or the Red Sox? Ortiz was never that good when he was with the Twins.
Total 100 theme squares. Perfect.
I'm
so happy to blog a John Farmer puzzle. As I mentioned before, John
always delights me with his creative themes or innovative approach to a
tried theme.
 |
| John Farmer, Xword Info |
In
today's puzzle, John arranged all his theme entries in Across. Since
his shortest theme entries have 10 letters, he did not put any 10-letter
non-theme fill in Across to confuse solvers. He put them (4) in Down. The grid also features two smooth 9's and eight lovely 8's.
Across:
1. Chocoholic, e.g. : ADDICT. I'm not. You?
7. Stadium near Citi Field : ASHE
11. Young socialite : DEB
14. Corsica neighbor : ELBA
18. Maternity dress choice : MUUMUU. How unusual. Four U's.
19. Agenda details : ITEMS
21. Actress Gardner : AVA
22. Cry out for : NEED
25. McCarthy era paranoia : RED SCARE. Thank God I did not join the Chinese Communist Party. US government would not have approved my immigration.
27. "Citizen Kane" prop : SLED. Rosebud.
28. Civil rights leader Chavez : CESAR
31. Course expectation : PAR. Golf course.
32. Copier abbr. : LTR
34. Progressing according to plan : ON TARGET
35. Natural selection adherent : DARWINIST
40. Port for a mouse : USB. Remember the old days when we had to use wired mouse & keyboard?
42. Anger : IRE
45. Refrain syllable : TRA
46. Beaut : GEM
49. Arizona tribe members : PIMAS. So are HOPIS.
50. Timber fungus : DRY ROT
51. Remedy for wearing of the green? : SOD. Golf green, correct?
52. Emerald City pooch : TOTO. "The Wizard of Oz".
53. Precursor to rocksteady music : SKA. Wiki said Rocksteady is "a successor to ska and a precursor to reggae".
54. Airport accessible via BART : SFO
55. Almond-flavored cordial : AMARETTO
57. She brought Tzeitel and Lazar together : YENTE. Saw "Fiddler on the Roof" long long time ago. Don't remember those names.
64. Children's author Asquith : ROS. She stumped some last time. Click here. I presume she writes those posts herself?
65. Apt. ad spec : RMs
66. Number on some watches : VII
67. Chem. pollutant : PCB
74. Some former polliwogs : TOADS
77. Get together at the factory, in a way : UNIONIZE
78. Words With Friends 10-pointer : ZEE.
79. Art to dye for? : TAT (Tattoo)
80. Big biceps, at the gym : GUNS
81. Reason for a 33-Down : TIE. 33D. Post-election election : RUNOFF
82. "The quality goes in before the name goes on" manufacturer : ZENITH. Owned by LG now.
86. Pal of Porky : DAFFY
88. Old spy gp. : OSS ( Office of Strategic Services). 1942-1945. Later became CIA.
89. Raided the fridge : ATE
92. Cholesterol abbr. : HDL. The good one.
93. "__-haw!" : YEE
94. Source of "helicopter seeds" : MAPLE TREE. I don't know those seeds are called "helicopter seeds".
95. 1989 Roseanne Barr title role : SHE-DEVIL. Never saw it. With Meryl Streep.
99. __ Paulo : SAO
104. Shrub in a patch : BRIER
106. West Coast sch. : UCLA
110. Spider-Man, for Peter Parker : ALTER EGO
114. MS Word files : DOCS
115. Big time : EON
116. Lucifer : SATAN
117. What John has and Joan does not : SHORT O. Tricky clue. Joan has LONG O.
118. Washed-out : ASHY
119. "Do, or do not. There is no __": Yoda : TRY
120. Respond to flattery, maybe : MELT. Ha ha.
121. Shown the door : OUSTED
Down:
1. Current units : AMPS
2. __ citizenship : DUAL
3. Bamboozle : DUPE
4. Chatted with online : IM'ed
5. Mangy mutt : CUR
6. Birthplace of the Italian Renaissance : TUSCANY. And 20D. Six, in 6-Down : SEI
7. Feels bad : AILS
8. Underhand : STEALTHY
9. Cupid's target : HEART
10. Ambulance letters : EMS
11. "Dream Lover" singer : DARIN (Bobby)
12. It may be blessed : EVENT
13. Reason to keep something under your hat? : BAD HAIR DAY. Now my hair grows longer and I'll have lots of bad hair days in winter.
14. Keep in a coop : ENCAGE
15. Pull up stakes : LEAVE
16. Artist's headgear : BERET
17. Yemen coastal city : ADEN
24. "... and that's final!" : PERIOD
26. California mission founder JunÃpero : SERRA
30. Stage name of musician Richard Melville Hall : MOBY
31. Fruity concoctions : PIES
35. Green Teletubby : DIPSY. Learning moment for me.
36. How great minds think? : ALIKE
37. The Colosseum, the Forum, etc. : ROMAN RUINS
38. Ky. neighbor : WVA
39. __ La Table: high-end cookware shop : SUR. Never heard of it. Google shows they have one store in ritzy Edina.
41. Words before keys or wheels : SET OF
44. Approximately : OR SO
45. Agee of '60s-'70s baseball : TOMMIE. I think I have this card. Not worth anything.
46. Defend : GO TO BAT FOR
47. Response to a double-crosser : ET TU
48. Atmosphere : MOOD
51. 2000 US Open champ Marat __ : SAFIN. Unknown figure to me.
52. AT&T, e.g. : TELCO
56. Dept. store slip : RCPT
58. TimeCutter mowers, e.g. : TOROS
59. "A Season on the Brink" airer : ESPN. About Bobby Knight. It's ESPN's first TV movie, per Wiki.
60. Torino thanks : GRAZIE
61. Show runner : EMCEE
62. J.A. Prufrock's creator : TSE (T.S. Eliot)
63. Egg: Pref. : OVI
68. Old Serbian auto : YUGO
69. Heavy load : ONUS
70. Source of patter? : LITTLE FEET. Pitter patter of little feet.
71. Hall of Famer who played the same position as Pee Wee : OZZIE (Smith). Shortstop. My first reaction is ERNIE (Banks). Anyone thought of ROBIN (Yount) or even HONUS?
72. Big name in little candy : REESE'S
73. Saks department : MEN'S
75. Green Goblin portrayer in Spider-Man films : DAFOE (Willem)
76. Fashion : STYLE
83. Forever celebrated : IMMORTAL
84. Constant Comment, e.g. : TEA. Wow, never heard of this tea. But I drink loose Chinese tea anyway.
85. Character in "Ben-Hur"? : HYPHEN. Wickedly clever clue, John!
86. "Happy Trails," e.g. : DUET
87. p.m. : AFT
89. Dangerous snake : ADDER
90. Petty on a track : KYLE. Son of Richard Petty.
91. Medium-dry sherry : OLOROSO. Mean "scented" in Spanish.
92. Charge against Galileo : HERESY
95. Some parts of Handel's "Messiah" : SOLOs
96. Storage cabinet : HUTCH. China hutch.
97. Snap : VIGOR
98. Dramatic __ : IRONY
100. Wind down : ABATE
102. "Blah ..." : YADA. I bet Husker Gary watched every "Seinfeld" episode. I probably missed a few.
103. Skid row woe : DTS
105. "__ It Romantic?": Rodgers and Hart song : ISN'T
106. Roswell craft : UFOS
107. Express lane roller : CART
108. Diet-friendly : LITE
109. Yankee nickname : A-ROD. Aroid.
112. Play killer : HAM
113. Cal. column : THU (Thursday). Calendar.
For those solvers whose paper only carries LA Times Sunday grid, I'd like to share with you this lovely poem our regular OwenKL wrote:
Ode to Crossword Puzzles
Owen Lorion, 5/11/98
Oh, grid of lines, squares black and white,
You can ofttimes be my delight
As I wrack my brain at your odious challenge,
Then try for the crosswords, an olious melange.
My spelling was poor -- you helped to improve it.
My hubris was great -- you helped to reprove it.
I once thought I had a wide vocabulary,
But often you send me to thumb my dictionary.
Proper names are the worst, of people and places;
I'm forgetful of maps, I'm forgetful of faces.
And then there's those words, archaic, obscure,
That I'm learning to use with aplomb so demure.
But my favorite task, that makes puzzles a dream,
Is to guess at the thesis, to determine a theme.
Some puzzles don't have this. Fie on them, fie!
I want puzzles with riddles, like ice cream on pie.
I want puns, I want wordplay, and what is more
I want to wish cruciverbalists my thanks galore!
When St. Peter asks, "PAPERS, PLEASE,"
ReplyDeleteRemember that he has the keys
Though you think, "I'M IN HEAVEN,"
You must answer his question
Or vacation in Hell till next freeze!
When a sweet thing says, "I LOVE YOU HONEY,"
But you're sure she's just after your money
Don't answer aloud,
"GET OFF OF MY CLOUD," --
Wait till after you've made like a bunny!
When you're out with a lady so fine,
Bide a while before, "YOUR PLACE OR MINE?"
If you'll just keep your cool,
She'll say, "KISS ME YOU FOOL!"
Then you'll both have a rollicking time!
At the job where I just had been hired
The boss shouted at me, "YOU'RE FIRED!"
I think THAT'S NOT FAIR
Though he's flying through air;
How'd I know those explosives were wired?
HG: that was a very good ladybug limerick yesterday! If I'm not careful, you'll be taking this job away from me soon. Oh, wait, I didn't have anything new yesterday. So I guess that means you've already taken it (at least pro tem)!
CC: Wow, I'm honored! Reading it over so many years after I wrote it, it sounds horrid now, but I'm glad someone else liked it!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteWell, I managed to get through this one unassisted in about average time for a Sunday, so I can't really say it was hard. It certainly seemed hard while solving it, however, what with complete unknowns SAFIN and TOMMIE lying side-by-side and other unknown/unremembered names like SUR, ROS, DIPSY, SERRA and OZZIE sprinkled throughout the grid.
The theme was a lot of fun, but I'm still having trouble understanding how I LOVE YOU HONEY quite fits in. Is this something a bee would say, if bees could actually speak (which they can't)? All the other theme answers were lines that could actually be spoken by a person...
YENTE was easy, since I played the part of LAZAR in my high school's production of "Fiddler" many years ago.
Anybody else go off track with ADES instead of PIES at 31D? Very nice misdirection, I thought, especially given how often we see (and complain about) ADES.
And yes, I am rooting for the Sox!
[idoweba]
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI started the puzzle in the Barnacle. It seemed so familiar. Oh, it's last week's NYT. D'oh. Had to switch to my tablet. The awkward typing on the tablet put me a minute into overtime. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
I thought the stadium was SHEA not ASHE. Nice shoutout to me at 113D -- my initials. DIPSY was unknown -- in fact, I'd have been embarrassed if I'd known it.
Speaking of Pima Indians -- Johnny Cash (4:11).
I remember the Red Scare when I was a kid. I used to hide under the covers when I'd hear the 9 o'clock freight come rumbling through town. I just knew there were Reds on that train!
C.C., Tzeitel was Tevye's eldest. Yente arranged for her marriage to the butcher, Lazar Wolf. It never happened.
Good morning C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteI can't make up my mind if I liked this one or not. (Would that be a "divided line"??)
C.C., I had a hard enough time to come up with OZZIE for 71-D (five perps), let alone think of anyone else that might have fit!!
My absolute favorite clue that left a huge dent in my forehead from the V8 can was "Remedy for wearing of the green?" for SOD. I had *OD and stared at it for the longest time, until I saw the "second" meaning of wearing (out).
I meant to tell you C.C., that in the cellar of the house next door, we discovered dozens of baseball cards stuck to the wall. I should take pictures and send them to you, to see if any of them are worth anything. But if they are glued on, they are ruined, right?
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Marti,
ReplyDeleteSend me a picture. You might have a T206 Honus Wagner (we can dream!) or a 1952 Mantle rookie there. If they're just 70s or 80s Topps, then they're worthless.
Good morning all !
ReplyDeleteDid not succeed. Had a natick at DIPSY and YENTE.
I didn't get the riddle of John and Joan. And I never heard of ORLOSO. I've only used sherry in recipes. As to the other liquor clue, Before I got the RETTO, I had AMA for the longest time and kept thinking AMA ??? Stone Sour. and I still don't know why I know the name of that drink.
Finally gave up at 1:30 with three missing letters.
Barry, yes to ADES and also to HEE instead of YEE, but corrected both of those.
And I'll share the V8 forehead dent with you Marti ! I wanted SAFIN but couldn't make sense of SOD, and then it hit me smack dab in the middle of the forehead.
Never heard of Richard Mellville Hall, but did get MOBY with perps. "Moby and Matthew in the morning" was the # 1 drive time morning show in Houston in the early 80s. He was one of the original shock jocks.
There are two Sur La Table stores within 20 minutes of me. Also Williams Sonoma. I only buy at either when I can't find it at the local Kohl's or Carson's. eg, the marble rolling pin for DW.
Sorry CC, no idea on the origin of "Kiss me you fool" but I have used that line on DW many times.
Precursor to rock steady ? Can't Get Enough of Your Love
OOPs, besides the typos and grammar errors, I also see where I wasn't clear in a couple of places, and want to correct the first one before D-O does.
ReplyDeleteYes, I cook with ingredients other than sherry. Sometimes I use beer. :>) I meant I don't know much about sherry, other than using it in recipes, so ORLOSO was unknown.
And for you Richard Melville Hall fans, yes, they are two different Mobys.
CC, pick up a handful or two of maple seeds and then drop them from some elevated place, such as the top floor of a parking garage. They will rotate down kind of like a helicopter's rotor blades. We have a beautiful Crimson King Norway maple in the side yard near the driveway, and between the seeds and leaves, it is a pain at this time of year.
Owen, I forgot to compliment your ode to crosswords and cruciverbalists. You have a gift !
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteHad to chip away at this big grid. I knew few of the names. The large theme fills sure helped.
Morning C.C. - I don't think I'm a chocaholic, but I do like the stuff. I prefer dark chocolate for its reduced sweetness. At Halloween time, we usually get KitKats and Reese's because, well, any surplus is easily dealt with. :-)
Neither OLIROSO, SAFIN, DIPSY nor dark of ROS could stay this solver from the swift completion of his appointed puzzle. All right, not all that swift, but I got ‘er done.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-PAPERS PLEASE is usually a precursor of action in a WWII movie
-UMW line? YOUR PLACE OR in the MINE?
-Pujols to Cardinal pay offer – “THAT’S NOT FAIR”. “Buh, bye.” Yankees gave in to AROD
-CC, is it fair to say capitalism has its place in China?
-Haven’t we all used a corded mouse in an emergency?
-Being a DARWINIST still can be hazardous to your health in some venues
-No SKA or MOBY knowledge here
-Our reps have to GO TO BAT FOR some crummy UNIONIZED teachers
-ZENITH made the first one of these I ever saw
-“Helicopter seeds” is a common phrase and problem here
-Yoda’s line wouldn’t work at a little league game
-Yeah, I’m buying this tie at SAKS
-CC, to say I have watched every episode of Seinfeld is to praise with faint enumeration ;-)
-Name the song with the lyric “Heaven, IM IN HEAVEN…”
Thanks for the kind words, Owen. I am the grasshopper to your Master Po but I love your writings and look forward to them every day as does everyone else and if a rhyme occurs to me (aloha/alcoa)…. Your job is in as much jeopardy as the four minute mile barrier is to me.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteAfter a long slog, I finally finished but, to my surprise, no TADA. Two errors: The Devil instead of She Devil (which made tolos instead of solos-DOH) and briar instead of brier (which made hyphan instead of hyphen-Double DOH!).
Didn't understand sod cluing until reading CC's expo. Lots of fresh fill and clever theme, so thanks to John Farmer and to CC for a snappy write-up.
Chocolate? Meh. Chips? Yay! Red Sox? BOO! Cards? WHOO HOO!
Great job, Owen, as usual.
Have a relaxing Sunday.
Husker, Cheek to Cheek? Husker, I'm happy to say it's been well over a decade since I tied one of those nooses around my neck. With luck, never again.
ReplyDeleteChocoholic? You bet! My favorite has always been the plain ole Hershey bar...or Hershey kisses which are made of the same chocolate.
So, would one describe the sound @ 1:27 as PATTER?
ReplyDeleteOwen, you are beyond talented! Loved your limericks and the ode. Many years ago I wrote "Ode on a Bedpan" which should not cause you or Keats any consternation.
ReplyDeleteC.C., I believe "I'm in heaven" comes from "Dancing Cheek to Cheek."
Have a great day, everyone.
Hello,puzzlers! Thank you, C.C., for the clarifications.
ReplyDeleteThough I sashayed slowly through this lovely grid, there were some unknowns such as OZZIE.
I hadn't heard of OLOROSO sherry either, but it perped easily.
The clever fill was enjoyable, HYPHEN, SHORT O, CART, and EON.
Two nice shout outs to Arizona, PIMAS and CESAR Chavez who was born in Somerville, AZ. I visited his home some years ago when on a school related trip.
Hand up for HEE before YEE which completed KYLE for me.
Have a terrific Sunday, everyone!
I forgot to say I'm definitely a chocoholic and therefore an ADDICT. I rarely buy it because I'll eat it all in one sitting. Twice a year I receive a box of See's with the instructions to eat one a day. It's hard, but I do it and savor each piece.
ReplyDeleteNow that we've got "Cheek to Cheek", what about "back to back, belly to belly"?
ReplyDeleteTTP: Actually there is only one MOBY:
ReplyDeleteAccording to Hall, his middle name and the nickname "Moby" were given to him by his parents because of an ancestral relationship to Moby Dick author Herman Melville: "The basis for Richard Melville Hall—and for Moby—is that supposedly Herman Melville was my great-great-great-granduncle."
We had a Moby video linked here some time ago that I bookmarked because of the imagery. I think it was linked by Steve or another UK native in reference to an Isle of Man clue.
...face to face, toe to toe, head to head, ear to ear, heart to heart, eye to eye, side to side.
ReplyDeleteI was watching a rerun of Cash Cab. One couple got in the cab and left three questions later because they couldn't answer any of them. The three answers were Air hockey, The Sound of One Hand Clapping and Firing Squad. Wouldn't you expect at least one of those three things would be in most people's storehouse of knowledge? I'm guessing they weren't crossword puzzle solvers either.
ReplyDeleteWe're off to visit Barbara's brother and family at a deli/restaurant about 30 miles north of here in the San Fernando valley. It is about a 45 minute ride if the traffic is light or we may be late if there's a problem on the freeway.
Anon @ 1:24.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I never heard of Richard Melville Hall or him as Moby until today, I did look him up. Interesting.
When you said there was only one, I thought maybe I spelled it wrong.
Yep, there are at least two. The DJ Moby has been plying his trade for over 40 years, and a quick google search shows that he was inducted into the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame in 2012. He's still on the air and apparently his morning show is syndicated. When he was in Houston, he was on a rock station. His news sportscaster was a young Hannah Sorm. She's on ESPN Sportscenter now.
Now that my break is over, it's time to get back to mulching the maple leafs.
Good afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteNice snazzy puzzle from John. Solve difficulty seemed about average for a Sunday. Of course, I missed the theme until after I was done.
MUUMUU has 4 U's. So does 'usufructuary', someone who enjoys something. Do you know any other 4U English words?
Otherwise, WEES.
Re: chocolate. My favorite chocolate is in Hood Mt Washington Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream.
Enjoy what's left of the weekend.
Back to back, belly to belly,
ReplyDeleteWell I don't give a damn
'Cuz I done that already.
Back to back, belly to belly,
at the Zombie Jamboree
I have a version of that song, performed by the Kingston Trio, on my current playlist...
HuskerG: Where were you on 9/11/65? That's the day Richard Melville Hall aka DJ MOBY was born.
ReplyDeleteSlow but steady satisfaction solving this one.
ReplyDeleteOzzie was a gimme, since Ozzie Smith was a Hall of Fame shortstop for the STL Cardinals..... who I am rooting for in the upcoming world series!!
As for English words with 4 U's in them, how about Tumultuous?
ReplyDeleteVery good, Barry.
ReplyDeleteHello everybody. Well, I liked some parts of this puzzle and disliked others. Liked the theme and some of the long fills; disliked the self-referential entries. I don't like to turn on the red letters but today I had to; otherwise I would not have been able to finish it. SAFIN, TOMMIE, and SOD were killing me. Loved LITTLE FEET and BAD HAIR DAY. Best wishes to you all.
ReplyDeleteArgyle, you asked for it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it by the original Kingston Trio. Dave Guard, one of the original trio, loved that song so much he had it performed at his funeral.
ReplyDelete4 U's - unscrupulous.
ReplyDeleteArgyle @ 1:04, your comment went whizzing right over my head. Until Barry G's comment @ 3:41, I had no idea about this song.
d-otto, you beat me by 3 minutes (^0^)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe no one has linked any Little Feat yet.
ReplyDeleteIt's a rough job, but somebody's got to do it. :-)
Marti.
ReplyDeleteif you wouldn't mind, I'd sure like to get a gander of what you uncovered.
Thanks
Joe, I know anons are basically ignored here but I used my name to link my PATTER @ 1:27.
ReplyDeleteGet it?
PATTER: verb, make a repeated light tapping sound.
or
PATTER: noun, a repeated light tapping.
Guess I was too clever. :)
hondo, go to my blog, where I have posted all the pics - many not too clear, but I am sure CC will recognize all of them immediately.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link. (Ignore the cobwebs.)
Of course, with the talented wordsmiths here we can now cobble together a five U word, untumultuous, meaning 'calm'.
ReplyDeleteSpitz, that was puntumultous*!!
ReplyDelete*uproariously punny
Sam Clayton, guilty as charged. I did ignore your post. Not because you are anon, but because there was really no clue as to what it was about. Regardless, I appreciate your bringing that oversight to my attention and apologize for the slight. It was a great rendition of Little Feat's signature song....and it had Emmy Lou and Bonnie. What's not to like?!
ReplyDeleteSorry Joe. My original post is @11:15a this morning. My PATTER occurs in the video after 1 minute and 27 seconds has elapsed.
ReplyDeleteThe other day we had Clog for wooden shoe, and HG linked to some clog dancing in Pella, IA.
ReplyDeleteIn Dutch, clogs are called 'klompen'.
Here are some Klompendansers from Levele, The Netherlands.
Yellowrocks, they do some allemande? right and left in this piece starting at time 1:33.
Good evening, folks. Thank you, John Farmer, for a very good puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteWell, I missed Friday and Saturday puzzles. I finally got Friday's yesterday. i have yet to finish Saturday's. Just got Sunday's a few minutes ago. Been a tough weekend.
Liked this puzzle. Took me a while to get the theme. First one to get was I LOVE YOU HONEY.
RED SCARE was easy for 25A. SERRA was easy for the Mission priest. I saw several of the Missions while living in California.
I always looked at Cesar Chavez as a Union Organizer, not a civil rights activist. I remember when all that happened.
OLOROSO was unknown. Perped it.
Thought HYPHEN was clever for 85D.
Remember the YUGO. I always associated that car with Yugoslavia. However, Serbia probably was part of Yugoslavia back then. Made sense.
UNIONIZE came slowly. Made sense, though. I was in a Union for 10 years. No comment further than that.
As always, great poem, "Brother" OwenKL. Keep 'em going!
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(fiveryf)