Theme: Aaugh! - Words for at the end of one's rope, at the end of the theme entries.
18A. Smart remark : WISECRACK
27A. Crisp cookie : GINGER SNAP
48A. Super-popular : ALL THE RAGE
63A. Compulsive cleaner : NEAT FREAK
71A. Lose it, and a hint to the last words of 18-, 27-, 48- and 63-Across : GO APE
Argyle here. Synonyms today. Charlie Brown's cry of frustration sums up the feeling we have when we've come to the end of our rope and can't take it anymore. One misstep and we are off the deep end. Fortunately, Gail and Bruce have given us a puzzle that shouldn't incite such feelings; quite the opposite. Very nice Tuesday.
Across:
1. Uncertainty : DOUBT
6. Bit of gel : DAB. A little dab will do ya'.
9. Classroom supply : CHALK. Really? Do they still have chalkboards?
14. Media mogul Winfrey : OPRAH
15. Old studio letters : RKO. (Radio-Keith-Orpheum)
16. Google rival : YAHOO
17. "The Cloister and the Hearth" author Charles : READE. An historical novel (1861) set in the 15th century, it describes the events, people and their practices in the struggle between man's obligations to family and to Church.
20. Bowling building : ALLEY. Boomer's baliwick.
21. Year's record : ANNAL
22. Word from a heckler : BOO
23. Firmness of spirit : GRIT
25. Makes furious : IREs
31. Ditty : TUNE
35. Old vitamin bottle no. : RDA. (Recommended Dietary Allowance)
36. Melville novel that continued the story from "Typee" : "OMOO"
37. Betray like a stoolie : RAT ON
38. Country music's __ Ridge Boys : OAK. Find your favorite. Videos
39. Team supporters, collectively : FAN BASE
42. "As I see it," in texts : IMO. (in my opinion)
43. Reaper's bundle : SHEAF
45. LAX predictions : ETAs
46. Windy City hrs. : CST. Chicago is in the Central time zone.
47. Can in a cooler : SODA. Did you have soda bread yesterday?
51. Jessica of "Sin City" : ALBA
53. Voice below soprano : ALTO
54. Unit of resistance : OHM
57. Desktop computer that inspired clones : IBM PC
59. Rainy-day covers : TARPS
65. "__ you to try it!" : I DARE
66. Fad : CRAZE
67. Place for pampering : SPA
68. Israeli desert : NEGEV. Beersheba is its largest city.
69. Voice an objection : DEMUR
70. Skosh : TAD
Down:
1. Cartoon explorer with a cousin named Diego : DORA
2. German automaker : OPEL
3. Eurasian border river : URAL
4. Rotten apple : BAD EGG
5. Race track cry after "And" : "THEY'RE OFF!"
6. Holmes' confidant : DR. WATSON
7. Similar : AKIN
8. Region bordering Croatia : BOSNIA
9. Rinse or spin, e.g. : CYCLE
10. Guffaw syllable : HAR
11. Obsessed fictional captain : AHAB
12. Bonkers : LOCO
13. Early cartoon clown : KOKO
19. Lawman Wyatt : EARP
24. Culinary author Rombauer : IRMA
26. RR stop : STA
27. "That's disgusting!" : "GROSS!"
28. Montana neighbor : IDAHO. Direct shout out.
29. Ready to skinny-dip : NAKED
30. Prestigious prize : NOBEL
32. City in upstate New York : UTICA. Semi-shout out.
33. Asian menu assurance : NO MSG
34. Cyberjotting : E-NOTE
37. Turning back to zero, as an odometer : RESETTING
40. Smear campaign commercial : ATTACK AD
41. Satirist Mort : SAHL
44. Duracell size : AAA
48. Shortened wd. : ABBR. We get a lot.
49. Least plausible : LAMEST
50. Truckers' competition : ROADEO. See the cute play on 'rodeo'.
52. Career soldier : LIFER
54. One way to store pics : ON CD
55. "Grab this" : "HERE"
56. Title of respect : MA'AM
58. Mama's mate : PAPA
60. Sitar music : RAGA
61. Get ready for the OR : PREP
62. Golfer Ballesteros : SEVE. Spanish professional golfer: won the British Open Championship (1979; 1984; 1988) He died in 2011 at 54
64. Shih __: Tibetan dog : TZU. "Being beautiful takes a lot of work."
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear Warren, who used to comment on our blog regularly. How's the pottery & jam business, Warren?
 |
| Left to right: Warren, JD, EddyB, Chickie |
47 comments:
Morning, all (and Happy Birthday, Warren)!
Mostly a typical Tuesday solve for me, except that READE and ROADEO were completely out of my wheelhouse and seemed awfully obscure for a Tuesday. Not that I'm going to FREAK out over it, mind you...
I've noticed that most puzzles now clue RDA as "former" or "old." Anybody know when they did away with it?
Windy City Hours: CDT, not CST.
CST is so last week.
:)
Does a grid ever make your mind CRACK?
To snarky clues, do you want to SNAP back?
Well hold on to your RAGE
For the newspaper page
It might dissipate in a V-8 ATTACK!
Areolas are not TITS, those are birds;
Words that are made up are absurds.
Your hackles they'll raise,
Your sanity they'll CRAZE
Don't GO APE, there's a reason they're called CROSS words!
Good day everyone,
No problems finishing today, but it did cause me to do some head scratching. Like Argyle, I wondered if CHALK was still in vogue. What say you HG?
ATTACK AD an expression I can't recall hearing, and definitely never using. Same with ROADEO.
Does a heckler say BOO or utter it? I'll bet words used by most hecklers would get CC's ire up if they were penned on this blog.
A LIFER could be a soldier behind bars at Leavenworth too.
In closing, I still love GINGER SNAPS.
Damn, I did it again....
Warren, A happy birthday. Where ever you are, I hope the sun is shining and the temp is at least in the 70's.
Good morning!
Nice puzzle, Gail and Bruce. Argyle, my take on CHALK was identical to yours. Husker, Bill G, what say you?
I didn't understand "Truckers' competition" even after I'd filled it in. Thanks for 'splainin', Argyle. i was thinking along the lines of rail or air. ROADEO reminds me of this song by the Wilburn Brothers: Give Me 40 Acres And I'll Turn This Rig Around.
Fess up, was there really a Shih TZU in that photo? What I saw looked like a hairy coconut crab.
Good morning all!
Happy Birthday Warren, wherever you are!
And thanks for the fun links, Argyle! I found "Elvira" when I checked out the Oak Ridge Boys. Great TUNE !!
I don't really think this puzzle needed the revealer. But it did tie things up into a nice neat bow. I did not even see ROADEO, and probably would have FREAKed if I did.
Not much else to say. Happy Tuesday!
Good Morning Everybody! Nice puzzle today, cute theme.
I had no real hangups with this one, other than a little head scratching at NEGEV/SEVE.
Should Cyberjotting's clue be enoting? Cyberjotting is a verb and ENOTE is a noun (I believe).
I'd never heard of ROADEO either.
Have a wonderful day, especially Warren!
This was a quick walk in the park today. ROADEO and READE were easy wags with only 2 or 3 perps and soon were confirmed by the remaining perps. I’ll bet ROLLEO, which we have seen in several crosswords, is also a takeoff on RODEO.
On TV news shows I see sports players and politicians being roundly BOOed all the time.
Link BOOOO!
Also on TV cable news, spokespeople for both political parties attack each other’s ATTACK ADS. ATTACK ads cause this viewer to FREAK. They are frequently lies or, at least, distortions.
“While the chalkboard still remains a part of most American classrooms, school designers no longer use chalkboards in their new school designs.” Think of all those older schools with built in walls of blackboards. The quote is from this interesting article on the changeover from chalkboards to whiteboards.
Link Chalkboards
Happy birthday. Warren. Please check in. We'd love to hear from you.
Thank you for the puzzle, Gail and Bruce. Thank you for the fine review, Argyle.
Easy peasy Tuesday-level puzzle. I never know whether time zone answers will be standard time or daylight time, so I put in 2 letters and wait for the perp, but it seems they are almost always standard time.
I didn’t know READE, KOKO, or IRMA, but the perps helped me. I didn’t know OMOO was a sequel, but it’s the only 4-letter Melville novel I know, so I confidently entered it. Learning moment.
Happy birthday, Warren!
Mari at 7:50 AM --,
I had the same question you did about cyberjotting / E-NOTE. Cyberjotting certainly looks like a verb to me too.
However, the online dictionaries are showing jotting as a noun, meaning a quick note or memorandum. So I guess this was misdirection.
When I deleted my comment to correct it, evidently I broke the links. Here they are.
Link BOOO!
Link Chalkboard
Hi All ~~
A fun and easy Tuesday puzzle from Bruce and Gail. No real problems, although I had to change FAN club to FAN BASE and I wanted 'Bozo' before KOKO. Thanks for your write-up, Argyle ~ I enjoyed your comments.
~ I was thinking that the theme answers' anger intensified in order from just a CRACK to a full-blown FREAK!
~ When I left teaching, CHALK was on the way out, with white boards and markers taking over.
~ ROADEO was new to me - makes sense.
~ If we doubled up 10D, we'd have Splynter's HAR HAR!
~ Happy Birthday, Warren ~ hope you have a great day!
Good Morning, everybody. Blue skies and 48° predicted for the day. Lovely!
Fun puzzle, and great expo, Argyle. Your video is in it, too, on my iPad.
I got the theme, but it wasn’t necessary for the solve.
I do know the neighbors of Montana, although I admit hesitating when the answer sometimes is Saskatchewan or Alberta. I have never called my youngest son a LIFER but he is career USAF in his 17th year. He’s been deployed 8 times.
I started teaching with BLACK boards/white chalk. First year my school even lined the cafeteria with black boards and I met 18 left handed 4-5-6th graders there twice a week for penmanship. I am left handed. I do not crook my hand to write.
When I started teaching here in Malta, the school had changed all blackboards to GREEN boards/yellow chalk, but they missed my one math classroom. As the students noticed the difference, they went on a campaign to “Save” the black board in math—don’t change it over the summer to green. They preferred the black one. The school burned down with its black board.
New school has White boards and then soon after, a Smart board in every classroom. Markers ended up being way more expensive than chalk ever was. School started rationing markers each year. (Math teachers use a lot of markers, still.)
There is another kid’s show called Ni Hao Kai-lan that is very similar to Dora and Diego except it teaches Chinese words and culture. My grandkids watched it everyday after Dora.
Have a great day,
Montana
I understand you can't steal markers and break them into little pieces to throw at each other. Another loss of my misspent youth. So sad.
Good morning everyone.
Happy Birthday, Warren.
Alas, I had 'irks' for IRES, and initially had 'gripe' for GO APE. But the perps straightened all that out, especially when I reread the ROADEO clue. (At first, I thought truckers competition related to railroads or 'gypsy' haulers or some such).
Fun theme. I bet Gail and Bruce had fun cobbling this one together. I always look forward to and enjoy doing their puzzles.
Sunny day here in UTICA. Forecast to be in the 30's here.
Nice, easy solve today. Seems I'm the only one that has heard of ROADEO!
Thanks, Bruce & Gail, and Argyle for your work!
Finally in the 70's! Yeah! Time to do some yardwork.
HBDTY HBDTY HBDDW HBDTY and many more!
Gail and Bruce always entertain, as do you Argyle, thanks.
Good Morning:
A nice, easy offering from Bruce and Gail; no bumps, no nits, no problems. Thanks, constructors, and thanks to Argyle, who somehow survived his misspent youth to share his wit and wisdom with the Corner!
Anonymous T from last night: Yes, St. Patrick's Day is a favorite day for me, always has been. And, yes, my "feast" was delicious! :-)
Dudley, you haven't said much about your new house. Are you getting settled in?
Hondo, I know you are a big fan of women's college basketball. The UAlbany women's team is going to the Big Dance for the third year in a row, and the men's team plays tonight against Mount St. Mary's.
Have a terrific Tuesday.
Musings
-There’s no CHALK where I work. The marker board I used yesterday was hard to erase, the markers are expensive and go dry and the tips get flattened and produce bad quality writing. Ain’t progress great!
-Bowling ALLEYS now have black lights, thumping music, lasers, bumpers, electronic scoring, arcades and restaurants. It ain’t my dad’s second story locale with pin boys
-Odds are bad that I’ll ever read TYPEE (German boat?) or OMOO
-The US gov’t chose OAK RIDGE, TN as a place to start the Manhattan Project for many reasons, not the least of which was that it was in a valley with ridges to protect against any “disasters”
-Unfortunate epitaph – They DARED me to try it
-Yeah right, if you had _O_O for clown, you wouldn’t put BOZO first
-National Lampoon’s Vacation Christy Brinkley clips SKINNY DIPPING @ 4:00
-I wonder if there’s a warranty on this defective this RESET button?
-I inserted a new AAA battery last week and it didn’t work. When I tested it, the needle moved backwards but it was fine when I reversed the poles on the tester. It was build backwards.
-I’d have to think awhile to recall the LAMEST excuse for a kid’s losing his room key at a Disney Resort. I preferred, “I locked myself out of my room, Mr. Schlapfer. I take full responsibility and would you please help me get in”
-HBD, Warren. I wonder who sang tenor in that quartet.
Hello Puzzlers -
Piece of cake today, even a tad easier than yesterday I thought. It's handy that we had Negev recently, it was easier to recall.
Irish Miss - we're getting settled in, a little at a time. There are still a few bits of furniture to move, and we need more snow to melt so we can schlep the washer & dryer out from the old basement. Our new location is much more appealing!
20. Bowling building : ALLEY. Boomer's bailiwick.
Very clever - one of your best comments ever!
Well this Tuesday puzzle wasn't a piece of cake for me, (which reminds me, HBD Warren! I messed up squeezing both an A & an E in 3D (Ural/Urel) not realizing that I had misspelt Opal, giving me the unlikely RAAde...
Wow, Koko takes me way back! Does anyone remember "Out of The Inkwell?"
47A Can in a cooler = soda? MEH!
Couple of things unrelated to the puzzle today that I thought you might find interesting...
1st, for Jzb, they say the trumpet player sneezed. (is that even possible?)
Superman with a GoPro?
& for Manac, (where have you been, I need your help!) Dog Training... (personally, I agree with the dog, why is the cat allowed???)
Manac, my next door neighbor got a Dalmatian puppy, & asked me to walk it at 10am when he is at work. The little gal is teething,
& is quite a handful. (I am too old to keep up with a puppy!)
Aarrgghh. I breezed through this puzzle in record time with no erasing, no hesitation, until I got to the reveal. By then I had already figured out the theme but I couldn't get the reveal to save my soul. I had G_APE, but it obviously wasn't GRAPE. Tried GRIPE, but I just knew it was RAGA and not RAGI. Finally settled for GRACE, which sounded weak, not quite right, and meant that the pre-op preparation was a PREC rather than a PREP, which wasn't right, I was pretty sure. Why on earth couldn't I get that stupid O and get GO APE? A rare Tuesday frustration.
The LA Times paper had the clue for 64D missing, but the acrosses filed it in without any problem.
Happy Birthday, Warren.
And have a good Tuesday, everybody!
I join Misty virtually word for word.
Argyle: Nice write-up.
Gail & Bruce: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday puzzle.
Warren: Happy Birthday! Hope you and your wife finished the grid before she went off to work.
C6D6 Peg, ROADEO was a gimmie HERE, also.
Might be a Southern thing.
Fave today was NEAT-FREAK for the obvious reason.
Hmmm, that gives me an idea.
Cheers!!!
Didn't know ROADEO. Looked it up in the dictionary, but it wasn't there. Went to the Urban Dictionary for the slang definition. Not a very nice definition. The constructors should check first.
Hi everybody. We just got back from our reliable tax guy. It was relatively painless but it is still not my favorite way to spend the morning.
I finished this puzzle late last night. I enjoyed it OK but was underwhelmed by the theme. We get so many clever ones from the LAT. I guess I'll Thumperize the rest of my comments.
My last classroom had a white board instead of a chalk board. Each has advantages and disadvantages. I would be OK with either so long as I have my overhead projector.
Anonymous @ 12:51 try "googling" truckers roadeo.
Thanks, John28man. It's good to know I wasn't the only frustrated solver this morning.
Hi Y'all! Good one, Gail & Bruce! Thanks, Argyle!
This went pretty fast but I'd never heard of READE or his book or KOKO. Watched the clip with interest.
We've already had an ATTACK AD from our incumbent Republican Senator slamming the man who dared to file to run against him. The Senator is in his 70's. Think it's time to retire him.
My cousin was a LIFER trucker who won a ROADEO competition and got a nice write up in an area paper. So that word was a gimmee.
HG: I saw a political cartoon the other day about Hilary & the RESET button. I had no idea what that was about until your link. Thanks.
Happy birthday, Warren! Have you finished your classes yet?
Anybody else watching "Dancing With the Stars"? My favorite show. Looks like an interesting season.
Hi Guys, it's been too long since I've found time to comment. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes, I get more here than anywhere.
My wife had to do an early shift today at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley so we didn't do the puzzle until she got back. Easy puzzle for today.
We're still prepping for the next pottery and jam sale. We're hoping the the BHC studio will get a new pottery kiln soon, there's been lots of problems getting pots out of the old one.
RE:local weather, we're still hoping for more rain (we're in a drought condition) but today it's supposed to be a high of 72 degrees and sunny.
Hola Everyone, To our potter friend, Warren, a very happy birthday.
A fast easy puzzle. A very typical Tuesday, even faster than usual for me. My only blip was the spelling of Seve, as I wasn't sure that Negev was the Israeli desert. But Argyle confirmed that with his excellent write-up.
Chalk was the last thing brought to mind for a classroom supply. It hasn't been in vogue for over 40 years in our part of the country. Our chalkboards were all removed and replaced with whiteboards as chalk caused allergies, and other problems.
The trucker's competition is a get together of truckers to compete with their rigs for parking, coming close to marks with their wheels, etc. School bus drivers have similar competitions at the tradeshows that we have attended. Amazing what the drivers can do with those BIG rigs.
Have a great day, everyone.
Hello everybody. I had fun with this puzzle. When I got CRACK and SNAP I thought we were going for sounds produced by breakfast cereals. When RAGE disproved that hypothesis I began to think the theme words all related to being angry. Close, but not quite.
Never heard of ROADEO. Now I know. The same way I learned what a roleo is.
I like YAHOO and OMOO. They make me purse my lips.
Happy birthday, Warren, and best wishes to you all.
Argyle:
I have no DOUBT that you will CHALK up a WISECRACK or two for your FANBASE in a SNAP. Maybe you and Jessica ALBA can go to the SPA in IDAHO or UTICA. Just remember don't GO APE on us or you could end up tied to the great white whale like AHAB and singing ALTO or solo we can't hear you. Continue to show us your True GRIT.
Johnr, you need to go blue or change browsers; every one of your posts is treated as spam. They stay there until we free them.
Crack
Snap
Rage?
Freak?
Go Ape
Didn't know ROADEO, misspelled OPEL with an " A" so that made 17 A wrong. Didn't know the golfer. Was worried for a bit when the clue for 64D was missing from the hard copy of the L A Times, but eventually it came together. Has an easier time today than yesterday. Time for a nap before starting dinner!
Enjoyed this puzzle after work today. Unknowns were filled in by perps with no problems.
I have not heard of ROADEOS and thought the clue required a ? but apparently it is not just a cute clue!
I learned OMOO long ago from doing CWs.
CST is what we had before RESETTING!
HBD Warren.
Argyle:
Had a guy here for 4 hours today working on the router and other computer stuff.
Sorry it stjill goes to spam. Thanks for pulling me out of the deep end.
That worked.
Hi folks,
A fun offering from Gail and Bruce, fine writeup from Argyle (thanks) and, of course, CHALK talk from the regulars.
I had the same OPAL error, but wouldn't accept R.A. ADE as an author. Oh, look, the clue gave me his 1st name. Oh, SNAP!
I wasn't so lucky with 68a, 60d, and 62d. RAjA seemed good so I finally thought NEjEV sounds biblical.... Hey, no WISE CRACKS...
YAHOO got a boost when Aibaba (Chinese co.) announced an NYSE IPO. YAHOO! is invested in them.
CED - thanks for the links GO APE was funny. So was the Benny Hill dog. Tin, I liked how you found enough of a TAD with NEAT to find a sip. I guess FAN BASE is our baseball clue :-)
Warren - HBD. I don't know you, but I may have seen your pottery in my Valley friends' homes. We all had IBMPCs in the day.
Remember when Disco was ALL THE RAGE? FREAK Out!.
Cheers, -T
Oh, and on ROADEO - I knew that from somewhere. It wasn't until I read Chickie's description that I remembered it was on Discovery or some such. Thanks Chickie! C, -T
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Gail and Bruce, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the fine review.
Well, I just got back from the Polls. Worked since 5:00 AM until now as an election judge. Long day.
According to the radio Cook County, IL, had more Republican votes than Democratic votes in this Primary. First time since I have lived here.
To the puzzle. I worked it as I was in the Polls this morning. It was very slow. Puzzle was great. A couple tough words, but the rest fell easily.
Theme was good. Fairly simple to suss out.
Did not know DORA at 1D, but perped and wagged it.
I have heard of ROADEOs. Truckers competition.
I can never remember how to spell IRMA at 24D. E or I. GRIT gave it to me.
Well, I guess OPRAH was easy for 14D. We were at her show once years ago, in the audience. The security there was better than at O'Hare Field.
Happy Birthday, Warren. Stop in sometime. We miss you.
See you tomorrow. Finishing my Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner tomorrow. Hopefully I will do the crossword early. Otherwise, it may not get done.
Abejo
(59483595 33)
Abejo:
More Republicans polling in Cook County? They must have migrated from down-state...
Pop's a precinct committee man in Sangomon County down-state. Mostly R's there.
OK, IDARE to post this... I just got around/time to watching "Between Two Ferns" (Link) with President Obama. It is mostly canned humor (if you can call it that - it was a plug for the ACA) but the last bit is a gas IMO. C, -T
Oops, it didn't work, spoke too soon. Johnr was in the spam trap again!
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