Theme: Vowel Progression - First word starts with FL followed by vowels A to U, then T.
17A. Penniless : FLAT BROKE
26A. Like champion sprinters : FLEET-FOOTED
41A. Worker in the sky : FLIGHT ATTENDANT
52A. Suggest something tentatively : FLOAT AN IDEA
64A. Piece for two winds : FLUTE DUET. "The Flower Duet" May it inspire some flowers to make an appearance soon.
Argyle here. A straightforward puzzle today. Nice grid spanner. I can't help but wonder how much trouble it would have been to include an FLY.... A couple of long crossing columns.
Across:
1. Pi r squared, for a circle : AREA
5. Encyclopedia tidbit : FACT
9. Big-time : MAJOR
14. Speeds (up) : REVs
15. __ about: roughly : ON OR
16. Render speechless : AMAZE
19. Powerful person : NABOB. "nattering nabobs of negativism" : voiced by Spiro Agnew, coined by William Safire.
20. Cozy corner : NOOK
21. Monogram part: Abbr. : INITial
23. Singer DiFranco : ANI
24. Crone : HAG
29. Capri suffix : OTE. "A Capriote" by John Singer Sargent.
30. Little lie : FIB. 52D. Like lies : FALSE
31. Church-founded Dallas sch. : SMU. (Southern Methodist University)
32. FDR's dog : FALA. Scottish Terrier.
34. Confused mental states : FOGs
37. Mythological sky holder : ATLAS
44. Foil maker : ALCOA
45. Struggling to decide : TORN
46. Bone: Pref. : OSTE
47. Queue after Q : RST. Quite cute clue.
49. 20s dispenser, for short : ATM
51. Darjeeling, for one : TEA
57. "Bad" cholesterol letters : LDL. The "good" is HDL and the ratio between them is important. An optimum ratio is 3.5-to-1. Mayo Clinic
58. Key next to the space bar : ALT
59. "A Visit From the Goon Squad" Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer : EGAN
60. March Madness org. : NCAA. Basketball.
62. Pig __ : LATIN
68. Pillar from a fire : SMOKE
69. Film director's unit : TAKE. Tricky. A scene is made up of different units or takes.
70. Look at rudely : OGLE
71. Slipped gently (into) : EASED
72. Renders speechless : AWES
73. Wobbly table stabilizer : SHIM
Down:
1. "Bowwow!" : "ARF!"
2. Belief sys. : RELigion
3. Pertaining to the gospel : EVANGELIC
4. Concerning : AS TO
5. Warehouse vehicle : FORKLIFT
6. "It's __-win situation" : A NO
7. Newswoman Roberts : COKIE. Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Roberts.
8. River through Nottingham : TRENT
9. Direct, as a father-son conversation : MAN TO MAN
10. Doctors' org. : AMA
11. Try to punch : JAB AT
12. Layer with "holes" in it : OZONE
13. Opener's second call, in bridge : REBID
18. Big Broadway hit, slangily : BOFF. Shortened from BOFFO, slang for a hit on Broadway
22. Stipulations : IFs. There is always an IF, eh?
24. Teamsters president James : HOFFA
25. For any reason : AT ALL
27. WWII torpedo craft : EBOAT. On the water, eboat; under the water, uboat
28. One-up : OUT-DO
33. Greek marketplace : AGORA
35. Pontiac muscle car relaunched briefly in 2004 : GTO. It was an Australian car. Link I had no idea!
36. Valuable violin : STRAD
38. Comeback victor's vindication : LAST LAUGH. "He who laughs last, laughs best"(or longest)
39. Fed the kitty : ANTED
40. Filch : STEAL
42. Hurried : HASTENED
43. International accords : ENTENTES. [French: understanding]
48. Schoolyard game : TAG
50. Riot control weapon : MACE
53. Alpaca kin : LLAMA
54. Director Preminger and others : OTTOs
55. U.S.-Mexico-Canada commerce pact : NAFTA. (North American Free Trade Agreement, 1994)
56. Bride's new relative, say : IN-LAW
61. Hullabaloos : ADOs
63. Eisenhower nickname : IKE
65. Guitar cousin : UKE
66. Brother of Peyton Manning : ELI
67. President pro __ : TEM
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to our lovely Mari! Hope it's a beautiful day in Chicago. Snow has been melting steadily here in MN. (To Dave: Cats (obviously) & needlepoint.)
65 comments:
Dear Friends at C.C.’s Crossword Corner,
I just returned from the ACPT in NYC, where it was my real pleasure to meet a number of you. Perhaps, you have seen the results already; you may also enjoy watching the finals (complete with play-by-play) and the Sunday talent show. (Be aware that these links do contain some spoilers, in case you still plan to try the tournament puzzles.)
On Sunday afternoon, a bunch of us got together to construct a new puzzle, called Rock Star, in honor of one of the ACPT’s most beloved participants. Let me say no more, other than to hope you like it!
Morning, all (and Happy Birthday, Mari)!
Fun puzzle today. Caught onto the theme early on and breezed through most of the grid. Didn't know EGAN and hated OTE on general principles, but everything else was smooth sailing.
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. This was fun and easy Tuesday puzzle.
WBS. I am not keen on suffix or prefix clues, either.
My favorite clue was Pillar From a Fire = SMOKE.
COKIE Roberts is the daughter of Hale Boggs and Lindy Boggs and is from New Orleans.
Here is a recent article about David Steinberg, a very young crossword constructor whose puzzles we occasionally see here.
QOD: A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. ~ Douglas Adams (Mar. 11, 1952 ~ May 11, 2001)
Thank you for the puzzle, Kurt and Jan-Michele. Thank you for the review, Argyle.
Easy peasy puzzle again, much like yesterday. I finished the puzzle in my normal Monday – Tuesday time but no ta-da. I re-read my Across answers and found nothing. I re-read my Down answers and changed OSE / AS ALL to OTE / AT ALL and ta-da!
I actually had ESE (Caprese) first, but HOFFA changed that to OSE. I didn’t know "A Capriote" by John Singer Sargent, but the WAG worked. Thanks, Argyle!
I got the theme early, but didn't need it. Clever!
Happy birthday, Mari!
Good day all,
Well, I got it done and no spelling errors, but I found it to be a lot more difficult then the previous posters.
As you might already have guessed, never saw the theme, but it mattered not.
Most of my struggles were self inflicted. 13D began as No Bid, before REBID. For 17D i desperately wanted Uboat, but eventually caved in for EBOAT. What's the diff between the two boats?
16a Render speechless/AMAZE was a MEH. 3D EVANGELIC took a while, Wanted an ending of ........line, but wouldn't fit!
That;s it, in a rush today. Gotta get Lucy to the MD.
In a race, it could make the road smoke!
But when it lost air
It was heck to repair --
The expense left the rider FLAT BROKE!
His big feet each needed a boat,
So with paints he gave each shoe a coat.
Thus with artistic riffs
They became navy ships,
And now he's a FLEET FOOTED bloke!
Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
If he's missing today
I guess we must say
His FLIGHT ATTENDence is in disrepair!
The future will be a panacea
Inventions will fill gallerias
And deep in this hoard
Is McFly's hover-board --
Provided someone can FLOAT AN IDEA!
The cetacean had sonar that quit.
His whistle just no longer was fit.
So instead he now spins
His pair of tail fins --
Now he sounds with his fluke-FLUTE DUET!
Good morning!
Got the theme for a change, not that it mattered. All of the theme F words have a long vowel sound, except the first one. I guess there just wasn't any FLATE word to work with.
Hahtoolah, good to see ya! Where have you been? AWAD also had a quote in honor of his birthday: Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and start wars, etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish, and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons. -Douglas Adams, writer, dramatist, and musician (1952-2001)
Happy Birthday, Mari! You have my permission to take the day off.
Thanks Argyle, for your write-up.
This was a typical Tuesday puzzle and there is nothing wrong with that.
I thought I knew the theme, but Argyle added more to it. I didn't notice the 'T' endings.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mari!
Montana
Good morning everybody! Thank you for the birthday wishes. I'm looking forward to see what CED has baking in the oven!
Good puzzle today. I was thrown off by EBOAT, which gave me FLEUT FOOTED (!)
I knew BOFFO, but never heard of BOFF.
My first theme clue was FLUET DUET and I thought the rest were going to be similarly paired clues.
Well, as much as I'd like to take Desper-Otto's "get out of jail free card", I'm off to work.
Have a great day!
He who laughs last didn't get the joke.
Oops, just noticed the first line of my poems got cut off. It should be
The bike tire had 28 spokes.
In a race, it could make the road smoke!
But when it lost air
It was heck to repair --
The expense left the rider FLAT BROKE!
Mari: I am remiss in not wishing you a Happy Birthday in my first post. Hope you have a wonderful day in the Windy City.
Hahtoolah --
Welcome back! You were missed.
Kurt and Jan-Michele - very nice and fun Tuesday puzzle.
Happy Birthday to Mari and her puddy tats.
I too went for UBOATS before I got EBOATS from the across. Fleet Feet is a running good store in Albany.
Argyle thanks for Cokie Roberts full name. I now see why she goes as Cokie.
OwenKL is the Rod McEwen of th e 21st century.
Good morning everyone!
And Happy Birthday, Mari! Even though you have to work, maybe you can indulge in some birthday goodies at coffee break?
Fun puzzle from the constructing DUET. Thanks for the write-up, Argyle. No ear worms today, thank goodness!
I got the theme early on, and don't remember any write-overs. Wherever I hesitated (EGAN, FALA) a quick check of the down crossings immediately provided the correct answer. So thanks for a fun Tuesday romp!
Hello Puzzlers -
Smooth sailing right through. As the theme answers unfolded, I thought it might be connected with an old Boy Scouts nonsense song that had "flea fly floe" in the lyrics. That was soon quashed.
Happy Birthday, Mari! So glad to see you have a fondness for cats. I'm pretty attached to them myself.
A nice light Tuesday offering. Noticed the transition from short to long vowel sound mentioned by D.O., but that's hardly a deal breaker. Got the theme about half way through and knew what to expect.
Happy Birthday Mari!!
And welcome back Hahtollah.
Good Morning:
This was a fun, easy-breezy offering. Caught the theme quickly and just sailed right through with only one write-over: I invariably write Ana instead of Ani for Ms. DiFranco.
Thanks, Kurt and Jan-Michele, and thanks, Argyle, for the usual spot-on expo.
Very Happy Birthday wishes to our dear Mari; hope you have a fantastic day.
Johnr, where are you in Upstate New York?
We are expecting 6-12" of snow tomorrow into Thursday. Could also be a mixture of snow, rain, and sleet. Sounds peachy! I'm supposed to attend a wake on Wednesday and a funeral on Thursday morning. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how bad the weather is.
Have a good day.
Hahtoolah, nice to see you back. You were missed. I am eagerly awaiting the return of Lucina, as well.
I wish you a very happy birthday, Mari.
Blue skies and brilliant sunlight along with temperatures in the high 50's today and tomorrow are giving me spring fever. I am seeing more birds and hearing their songs. It is wonderful for it to be light outside until 7 PM.
For now I am ignoring the next arctic plunge from Wed. night until Friday AM, only 36 hours and then back to the 40's.
Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone.
Good morning everyone.
Happy Birthday, Mari. Nice picture - love your cats. "All's right with the world."
Fun puzzle. No road bumps today. The theme seemed to generate a plethora of extra f's.
ENTENTES - other diplomatic terms in this vein, perhaps more informal, include 'aide-mémoire' and 'minute'.
Have a great day.
Hi All ~~
I caught the theme after FLAT... and FLEET... and anticipated the other theme answers. My one misstep was putting in 'Fleet of foot' before perps led me to FLEET FOOTED.
NCAA March Madness starts next week.
Nice to see you, Hahtoolah.
Happy Birthday, Mari! I love your beautiful "Cat-Lady" pic. =^..^= I hope you have a wonderful day.
Musings
-Theme and vowel progression were as obvious as a brick in a punchbowl on this fine puzzle
-In the late 60’s I held three jobs to keep us from being FLAT BROKE
-I love The Flower Duet but it takes two sopranos (a lovely 6:50) to make it truly soar
-Here are some interesting Nebraska circles to use Î r²
-How’d you like to sell encyclopedias door to door these days?
-If I hear AWEsome used again as an adjective for a prosaic event… Get a thesaurus for crying out loud!
-Much evil, like My Lai, is committed in the FOG of war
-I’m sure Darjeeling is fine, but I prefer this this TEA
-Before I circulated a petition - “Where there’s SMOKE, there’s a teacher’s lounge”
-Marilyn Monroe took 59 TAKES to open a drawer and say “Where’s the bourbon?” in Some Like It Hot
-The plot of the BOFF movie Nebraska has a big IF on Bruce Dern’s sweepstake ticket
-NFL peeps here know Russell Wilson had the LAST LAUGH on teams that passed on him
-Do not HASTEN to bid me adieu!
-HBD Mari! I see you are in excellent company!
-What TV character got a FALSE positive for opiates from eating poppy seed muffins?
27D: of course I put UBOAT. I. Never heard of EBOAT's. Calls for some research.
Awesome write-up, Argyle!
Awesome links, HG!
Awesome pic, Mari! Your cats look awesome! Have an awesome Birthday!
I looked up EBOAT and found this:
E-boats (German: Schnellboot, or S-Boot, meaning "fast boat") was the designation for fast attack craft of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. It is commonly held that the British used the term E for Enemy. There were no more references to EBOAT's in the rest of the article. Must be a little known term. Certainly unknown to me.
EBOAT in crosswords:
Last Seen In:
•LA Times - March 11, 2014
•Washington Post - October 08, 2013
•LA Times - September 08, 2013
•LA Times - September 03, 2013
•LA Times - July 07, 2013
•Washington Post - May 30, 2013
•Washington Post - January 24, 2013
•New York Times - January 06, 2013
•LA Times - January 04, 2013
Four times in LAT in 2013 and 4 times in LAT before that
OOPS,
Marie, a very happy birthday. Enjoy the day.
Hahtoolah, good to hear from you. Hope all is well.
Magilla Go Rilla Thanks for the E Boat explanation.
Is called officially S-Boat. Called E boat by british. US equivalent PT Boat. I think its a stump the chump question by the author. Please keep em till the end of the week where anything goes.
Thanks Dim, I found your posting amusing, droll, funny, entertaining, interesting, appealing, thought-provoking, wry, cynical, sardonic, satirical, mocking, humorous, comical and amusing and I take it in the spirit in which I think it was offered. ;-). It still ain’t, well, you know…
I refused to accept anything but UBOAT so I have to have a DNF.
Happy Birthday, Mari
Good morning all, and welcome back Hatoolah!
Happy happy b'day Mari!Can't wait to see your cake.
ah, the theme... never got it, but had fun deciphering the clues.This was a bit crunchy for me as I filled in treaties which messed up putting in ATM, idea... Ententes, not my lingo.
Atlas was my 1st thought, but hey, he held up the whole world so I thought of Nut who was separated from her brother Nut when they were TOO close.Well, Neuth (Nut) didn't work either.
Lots of thinker clues today, and so it took awhile, and I had to cheat on a TUES! Mon Dieu!
Wishing you all a good one.
Vowel progression seems to appear in a lot of CW's, along with Tnuts & Ibeams...
Leer before ogle, however letch & lust could have been 4 letter possibilities...(UhOh,,, when did I become an expert in this subject...?)
73A Shim, while wobbly table stabilizer is a perfectly valid clue, everyone knows the correct answer is "whatevers available." (usually a matchbook...)
32A, there are some that would argue that FDR's dog is FICA...(Oh, sorry, no politics on the Blog...)
HBD Mari! I am not sure if this was the cake I posted last year, (there are not too many available.) So, just in case, as a bonus, did you know what comes up first if you Google "needlepoint cats mari?" (That should keep you busy for a while.) But for those without infinite patience, here is my favorite.
Desper-otto@7:34, I did not mean this as a comeback, but your post reminded me of this Rhymes With Orange.
Happy Birthday Mari!
Nice theme, caught on early. I had no quibble with E-BOAT, but then again I'm from the UK originally and that's what I remember reading in accounts of WW2.
Not as speedy as yesterday's puzzle, but still a delightful romp! Many thanks, Kurt and Jan-Michelle, and you too, Argyle, for your always fun expo. It's a treat when I not only get the puzzle without any write-overs, but "get" the theme as well. And I'm always impressed with a grid-spanner.
No wonder COKIE Roberts goes by COKIE--that is one long name!
Never cared for Spiro Agnew, but the dude knew his alliteration.
Happy Birthday, Mari. Loved the elegant photo--littered with kitties! (Sorry, couldn't help it).
Have a great Tuesday, everybody!
Nice easy puzzle. Didn't need the theme to get it done. Of course I don't usually get the theme anyhow.
Magilla: I have seen EBoat in a number of places including WWII history books and novels about WWII along with the Military Channel and History Channel. The Germans used them in coastal defense along all of their seashores during WWII. However, even though I am familiar with the term, I wanted to use UBoat instead of EBoat.
Mari: Happy Birthday!
My "first toast" at Sunset is to you and your clowder.
Cheers!!!
Hola Everyone, A busy day today, but I wanted to send birthday wishes to Mari. Happy Happy Birthday and many more.
Thanks for the theme reveal, Argyle. I missed it completely.
No lookups, but a couple of erasures as the perps began to fill in.
My favorites today were Queue after Q, and Pillar from a fire.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
See you later when I come back to read the blog.
Happy birthday Marti! Happy birthday Mari!
I was able to figure out the theme early on and it meant I could fill in the first three letters of each theme answer immediately. Needless to say, that helped with solving everything else.
* It's hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs 'cause they always take thing literally.
* A Roman walks into a bar, holds up two fingers and says, "Five beers please."
I thought this was interesting and fun. Random kissers
CED 11:35 - That comeback is funny! Wish I'd thought of it. Incidentally, I learned by chance that that cartoonist has (or at least had) her studio in nearby Florence, MA.
Misty 12:22 - Littered with kitties! Also funny!
All right you northeastern Cornerites, it's coming together. Montana is being brave enough to navigate our way again, in the middle of April. We propose to raft up again, either at my hut near Springfield, or else along the Amtrak route if that's more convenient. We'd like to get more of you here - so how about it you New Yorkers? And LaLaLinda, you're nearby, aren't you? Barry G, you need a day off. D-Otto might still have that "get out of jail free" card that Mari couldn't use today.
Hi Y'all! Theme? There was a theme? I rapidly filled every square I think, but my puzzle was disappearing again, so I couldn't linger and savor. It was fun enough to keep me going through frustration.
I looked at "The Capriote" painting awhile before I could see a female form. She's sure well camouflaged.
Happy Birthday, Mari!
76* here today with snow forecast tonight. Hard to believe. Oh well, I've filled the house with fresh air for three days now. Supposed to be nice the next day.
Hsppy b'day, Mari!
Flummoxed for a while but finally favored by today's fine-feathered friendly pzl.
Mari,
BOFF is tabloid-speak, or Variety's word of choice when BOFFO won't fit.
Happy Tuesday everybody!
AbFab puzzle for a Tuesday. All unknowns filled EASily by perps.
Out of curiosity, just had to look up NABOB. Interesting background info - had no idea....
Nothing more to add about the puzzle that hasn't already been mentioned....
Finally, HBD to Mari! Are the cats keeping you warm or vice-versa...?
Interesting "Born Loser" cartoon today.
Dudley, yes I will be at the New England contingent's gathering, and have no preferences on the location. I'm just looking forward to seeing everyone again!
Spitzboov, Splynter, Argyle, Irish Miss? You in?
Oh, and Bill G. thanks for the birthday greetings. But really, one is enough for me for one year.
No, it's not. Happy birthday Marti!
* A physicist, an engineer, and a statistician go out hunting. The physicist calculates the trajectory using ballistic equations but assumes no air resistance, so his shot falls 5 meters short. The engineer adds a fudge factor for air resistance and his shot lands 5 meters long. The statistician yells, "We got 'em!"
Oooooh Bill! With that last joke you hit on the discipline that causes me the greatest grief, bar none. Love it.
And adding to the earlier jokes from the same list:
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And it doesn't.
OMK:
I always thought BOFF was synonymous with boink ...
March 11, 2014 at 4:59 PM Delete
OwenKL@7:55: "The bike tire had 28 spokes"
Tires don't have spokes.
I saw this on Facebook today, under the title, "I need a bigger boat."
Then I saw this in the sidelinks, on a jetski? (the guy puts his camera underwater for a closeup...) On a jetski???
Al Cyone@5:17: "Tires don't have spokes."
No, but you seem to have one up your patootie.
Pull it out and enjoy the poetry!
Happy birthday Mari! You look just the same as you did last year :)
Great jokes!
Cool puzzle; hated OTI.
Best wishes to you all.
Happy Birthday, Mari! I hope it's been a great day!
WEES. No nits; and easy Tuesday.
S
Favorite answer is FALA, the Scottie. We've been owned by 2 of them.
Sunny and 76* today in Cincinnati. Tomorrow we're in for falling temps and rain turning to snow. Old Man Winter, please retire for the year!
Have a good evening.
Pat
There's an extra S in my first post. I have no idea where it came from. Couldn't be caused by the inept typist?
Bill G and all the baseball fans.... if you are interested and haven't seen this :) sorry it isn't a hyper link :(
Bill for the Dodgers is about ready to come due
http://beta.thescore.com/news/451277
thelma
Link
Thanks Thelma and Argyle. I can't believe the greed that may prevent me from being able to watch Dodgers games. It makes me angry but I don't have a clue what I can do about it.
* A recent finding by statisticians shows the average human has one breast and one testicle.
* Lenin's tomb is a Communist plot.
* They used to laugh when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well they're not laughing now!
Thank you Argyle...
And thank you for all you do here on the blog....
The puzzle was fairly easy, enjoyed the write up as always.....
Happy Birthday Mari.... love your kitties.. :) hope your day was grand...
thelma
Bill..... it sounds to me like it is going to affect everyone whether you give a hoot about baseball or not..... it is just going to hurt fans more so....
thelma
Very late to the party today after work. Actually worked on this puzzle doing the Downs first as they filled in faster initially. Across clues then filled in nicely and in some cases I didn't even see the clues as they were already filled in.
I had FLAT BROKE first and then thought the next might be FLAT FOOTED and so on, but soon was set straight.
DETENTE before ENTENTE (I guess Détente includes the idea of resolving issues after strained relations while entente is an agreement/accord without the other issues underlying)
and UBOAT before EBOAT (Thanks Argyle, I'll have to remember the difference).
Welcome back Hahtoolah. Loved the quote today.
HBD Mari. Love the cats.
It felt like spring might be coming today but forecast calls for more snow tomorrow!!
Loved the puzzle today. Missed the theme until I read the blogs. Also had UBOAT first and FLEET OF FOOT initially. And thanks, Crosseyed Dave, for the awesome Orka pictures. (Spellcheck kept changing that to 'okra' ) Had PEZ early on before ATM.
Hi all!
Just winding down after a pzl conversation with MIL. I'll be honest and say I haven't read everyone's posts yet...
MIL & I both agree - It was Monday's answers with Thursday cluing... Ouch! We got it, but oh my...
I got the FL[aeiou], but some things like 37a hit me like, really!?!?
The real only reason I'm posting...
Happy-post BD Mari!
Cheers, -T
Hahtoolah: Been missing your QODs. Good to see them again.
IM - I read your snow prediction and was curious so peeked at your profile and thought 'I should have guessed...'. I lived in Albany NY for 10 years. Was there for the blizzard of '93..brrr! Finally back in Midwest these days.
JohnR: are you talking about Rod McKuen? If so, I was a huge fan of 'The Sea, The Sky & The Earth' and had 'Home from the Sea', which I lost in one of my many moves years ago.
Wow. You must be really bored.
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