Theme: Name That Tune - Probably the first song we ever learned.
20A. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" : ABCDEFG
28A. "How I wonder what you are" : HIJKLMNOP
36A. "Up above the ..." : QRS
41A. "... world so high" : TUV
44. "Like a diamond in the sky" : WXY AND Z
58A. Ditty sharing a melody with "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" : THE ALPHABET SONG
Argyle here. The puzzle has mirror (left to right) symmetry and is a pangram. Plus: the reveal spans the grid.
Across:
1. Gallery exhibitors : ARTISTS
8. NFL great "Boomer" : ESIASON
15. Dada pioneer : JEAN ARP
16. Heavenly : SUBLIME
17. "Hamlet" woman at whose grave Gertrude says "Sweets to the sweet" : OPHELIA
18. Flowing locks : TRESSES
19. Rain-__ Pops: gum-filled candy : BLO
22. LAPD rank : SGT.
23. Polite country assent : YES'M
25. Language suffix : ESE
26. "Divine Secrets of the __ Sisterhood" : YA-YA
31. First of 12 popes : PIUS I
33. Mark or markka replacements : EUROs
37. Rock bottom : NADIR
43. Carrier with a hub at DEN : UAL. Denver is the fourth-largest hub for United Airlines.
46. Brewed drink : TEA
47. Very little, in recipes : A DASH
49. Put the kibosh on : END
50. Agenda listings : ITEMS
52. "Divine Comedy" poet : DANTE
53. Cagey : SLY
54. "Gay" capital of song : PAREE
55. Forest foragers : DEER
57. Finger of smoke : WISP
65. New Year's Eve popper : CORK
66. Gumption : MOXIE
67. Fencing sword : EPEE
68. Untidy situation : MESS
69. Throw money around : SPEND
70. Atty.-to-be's exam : LSAT. (Law School Admission Test)
Down:
1. "This looks like __ for Superman!" : A JOB
2. Email option : REPLY
3. California/Nevada resort lake : TAHOE
4. Suffix with elephant or serpent : INE
5. Deli display : SALAMIs
6. Chicago paper, familiarly : TRIB. Chicago Tribune
7. See 12-Down : SPACEK 12D. With 7-Down, "Coal Miner's Daughter" star : SISSY
8. Hold in high regard : ESTEEM
9. Poke around the Web : SURF
10. Pleading remark : "I BEG YOU"
11. Racing Unsers : ALs
13. Horseshoe-shaped letter : OMEGA
14. Place for a jay : NEST
21. ISP option : DSL. (digital subscriber line)
24. Moo __ pork : SHU
27. Busy mo. for a CPA : APR.
29. Hex : JINX
30. Many a Pi Day celebrant : NERD. Pi Day is March 14 (or 3/14) celebrating the mathematical constant π since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π.
31. Big name in high fashion : PRADA
32. 1980s four-peat Stanley Cup champs : ISLANDERS
34. Frozen fruit-juice treats : OTTER POPS
35. "I was wrong. So what" : "SUE ME!"
36. Campus hangout : QUAD
38. Yeses at sea : AYEs
39. Pioneer Boone, folksily : DAN'L
40. 200-lap race, briefly : INDY. Indianapolis 500.
42. Place for posies : VASE
44. Ferris __ : WHEEL
45. "Shh!" : "ZIP IT!"
48. Chophouse fare : STEAKS
51. Loafer adornment : TASSEL
56. Tach measures: Abbr. : RPMs
57. Invasive plant : WEED 59D. 57-Down killer : HOE
58. Channel for old films : TCM. (Turner Classic Movies)
60. Short flight : HOP
61. Lumberjack's tool : AXE
62. Composting receptacle : BIN
63. PBS supporter : NEA. (National Endowment for the Arts)
64. Understand : GET
Argyle
60 comments:
Morning, all!
Fun puzzle today. I didn't get the theme at first and ran into a little trouble when I put in THE at 41A. It fit perfectly with OTTER POPS and confirmed (erroneously) that SHRUG was correct for 35D. Once the theme became apparent, however, I quickly fixed that.
Elsewhere, I didn't know UAL, but everything else was solidly in my wheelhouse today. Misspelled TASSEL as TASSLE for no apparent reason, but other than that the rest of the puzzle was very smooth.
There once was a letter named A
Who loafed in the middle of dAy.
In the A.m. he'll rise first
But after that burst,
He's never seen in the evening soiree!
No, I'll not rhyme all twenty-six.
You, dear reader, would soon tire of my tricks.
So I'll skip the long saga,
And get right to Ω,
(A letter Þat's not part of Þis mix!)
So I'll end it this way instead
By standing this verse on its head.
Meet the Vancouver Hill-billies
And Jethro's and Mae/Ellie's
Clampett patriarch, Uncle Zed!
Greetings!
Nice puzzle, Jeff!
Swell write-up, Santa!
Once I got the theme, it was smooth sailing. Had several pesky unknowns that were perped, such as the boomer guy and the pop.
Had to wait up to say goodbye to Alex. Will sure miss those dinners that he fed me, and the other nice things that he did.
Anybody see the last The Mentalist? It was great!
Cheers!
Quite a few *CSO's today, I didn't mention any for fear I'd miss someone.
*coincidental shout out
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeff Chen, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Wow, this puzzle was great! The theme is what made it that, IMHO. Very clever.
Remembered JEAN ARP from other puzzles. For the longest time I thought this person was a lady, because of the name. Eventually I learned it was a man. OK.
YES'M again. We had that recently.
We seem to get NEA a lot, as well. That's OK with me. A few gimmies are appreciated.
Never heard of OTTER POPS. Got it though.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(3832366 301)
Good morning, everyone!
Another easy puzzle today. I finished in normal time. I thought the theme was clever, and a tricky way to get a pangram.
I misspelled ESIASON as ESAISON, but the perps quickly fixed it.
I had PINCH before A DASH, and that held up the W for a while. When I realized things didn’t mesh and took it out, the Down answers appeared and I got A DASH. Sorry, Tin!
I never heard of OTTER POPS, but the perps got me through there too.
What a fun symmetric, Tuesday pangramatic outing. Okay, Argyle had to point it out to me but…
Musings
-I wonder if ARTISTS at a show die a little if people walk by their work and show no interest
-How ‘bout dat? ARP has a first name. ;-)
-Lady Godiva chose TRESSES over dresses
-Elton John is one who walks that fine line between the ridiculous and the SUBLIME. I’ll take the latter.
-Teachers have to put the KIBOSH on all sorts of behaviors.
-The Brian Sisters ask a PAREE question (2:07) in a color Little Rascals feature.
-My neighbor’s son uses an electric fence to keep DEER from foraging in his sweet corn on his farm
-I don’t think Lou Grant would like MOXIE or Gumption
-What he does when he has A JOB. Not much privacy in there.
-Have you ever had any REPLY/SEND regrets? Me too!
-I can see three NESTS from my perch here in my sunroom
-Are OTTER POPS regional?
-Don’t know about you but we put our flowers in a VAYSE not a VAHZE
-What young girl character is described as a “A flibberty-gibbet, A will o' the WISP, A clown!”
Good morning!
Thought this was tougher than typical Tuesday -- of course, Jeff Chen never makes it too easy. It was no surprise that this was a pangram, essential actually.
I'm not very good with the names of popes, but I did remember Pius XII from my ute. Rev. Baker in our town had a son, and all the kids called him Pious Baker. I actually can't remember his given name, nor whether we included the O in the spelling.
Can never keep my cups straight. I was looking for somebody's name as the Stanley Cup winner. And I thought DEN might be the airport code for Copenhagen. D'oh!
We seldom seen JEAN ARP's full name. So was the first Dada named Adam? Yes, I'll go to my room now.
I filled in the NW very quickly and soon had ABCD. AHA, there's the theme! I filled in the whole alphabet and had a fast spin through the rest of it. I knew ESIASON, but waited for the IA perps to be sure of the spelling. I had the SU in SUE ME, so that fell easily.
I loved the movie The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep, one of my favorite actresses. The story teaches us an important life lesson.
I never heard of OTTER POPS, but it perped easily enough.
OMKeith, I.too, thought how well you would do with the Shakespeare category on Jeopardy last night. And, if you subscribe to Word a Day, you will see that this week's words are taken from Shakespeare's characters.
I just learned (via Wikipedia) that "Pi Day will have special significance on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m. and p.m., with the date and time representing the first 10 digits of π". It's a Saturday.
Gotta respond to Husker's comments. That was an interesting film clip; I didn't know they filmed any of them in color. As John Hartford comment about the little Wharvey girls, "They can flat sing!" Oh, and that'd be Maria.
There should've been an "ed" in there, but the EDitor missed it.
Good morning all.
I never heard of OTTER POPS either. I know of Fla-Vor-Ice brand freezer pops.
Turns out they are one of a number of brands that you might recognize that are owned by the Jel Sert corporation, a family owned business right down the road from here. I'm sure Abejo has driven by it many times.
From their history:
"Otter Pops, 1996 Otter Pops® was acquired in 1996, and is the strongest freezer pop brand on the West Coast. Today, Jel Sert produces and sells more freezer pops than any other company in the world. For more information, visit www.otterpops.com."
Good morning folks,
Well, this sure wasn't a walk in the park for Hondo. If I was ever taught the alphabet to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle....., it had been totally erased from my mind and I'm sure it will be again very soon.
OTTERPOPS, Rain-BLO Pops, PRADA, and JEAN Arp were all unknowns. Never knew Arp's first name until now.
Moo SHU pork started as Moo Goo.
My first thought for Ferris was Fain. Ferris Fain was a first baseman for the Phila A's & Chi White Sox in the '50's. Was pretty good. Lempn, this guy you must remember.
HG, I say Vayse too.
Now it;s time to spend the better part of today toiling away on the lawn.
Hi All ~~
Another fast and fun early week puzzle. Thanks, Jeff Chen, for the cute theme and thanks, Argyle, for a great write-up and title.
The theme was apparent very early on and I filled in most of the alphabet lines after that. I knew this had to be a pangram but I wondered if it might be a "double-pangram." After a couple of quick looks, it seems to be missing just F, Q, and Z for this to happen. Or maybe I missed them!
No write-overs for a change and the only unknown, as others have said, was OTTER POPS.
Enjoy your day ~ we're having a beautiful week!
Good Morning everyone.
……and now I know my abc's………
The black squares made my grid look like a smiley face.
Once I saw the alphabet run starting I used the QRS and TUV segments to get those corners rolling. Didn't know OTTERPOPS and YA-YA but the perps sufficed. Liked seeing MOXIE. No searches or strikethroughs were needed.
Have a great day.
These imaginative themes look so easy in retrospect. Great job Jeff and a great ride with Argyle. With all JC does with Xword info and mentoring it is particularly impressive to see his solo work.
I too forgot about OTTER POPS but all the rest popped so it was good.
Fermatprime, I thought the Mentalist was wonderful, but it looked like a great episode to end the series. I know it is coming back as midseason replacement, but wonder about the Jane Lisbon dynamic now.
I also enjoyed TBBT and the insight into Sheldon, despised the awful parody of itself that Castle has become, and all the foolish cliffhanger crap the writers try. When will they learn people watch because they like the characters. The NCIS tribute to Ralph Waite.was.also well done
Easy tuesday
And the same tune -- I discovered when my kids were little -- as "Baa Baa Black Sheep"
Mozart - 12 Variations in C Major 'Ah vous dirai-je, Maman' K.265 (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
A Jeff Chen on a Tuesday? Not a speed run, for sure, especially having to start with all those seven letter words. But a lot of fun once I realized we were going to be doing the alphabet, with the melody of both songs going through our heads. So, many thanks, Jeff, and you too, Argyle.
I loved a whole corner devoted to ARTISTS, JEAN ARP, and OPHELIA, with DANTE thrown in down below as an extra.
Then a little money thrown in with EURO and SPEND. And then a bit of country with SISSY SPACEK's role and DAN'L Boone.
As I said, fun puzzle.
Have a great Tuesday, everybody!
I bet you could have even using Hebrew letters!!
What's a "perp" and a CSO?
My Father contended that a vase was a vahz if it cost more than $50. Less than that, it was a vayse.
Very nicely done puzzle, Jeff! So creative and fun! Thank you.
Argyle - loved your write-up as well.
Good Morning:
What a fun romp this was with such varied fill, from Dante to Dan'l to Ophelia to Esiason to Otter Pops and Rain Blo Pops. Not to mention Moxie, Paree, and Prada. Talk about diversity. Nice CSO to CC's Boomer!
Kudos, Jeff Chen, for a clever and charming offering, nicely explained by Argyle.
I liked the last episode of The Mentalist, also, although I think they are running out of fresh story lines. I gave up on Castle a long time ago; IMO, he comes across as a buffoon. My other favorite shows (The Good
Wife, Blue Bloods, Elementary, The Blacklist, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD) all ended with a slight glimpse of what's coming next. Overall, I thought this was a good season.
Have a terrific Tuesday.
Greetings, my friends! Excellent explanations, Argyle. Thank you.
What fun from Jeff Chen with some fresh clues for old and familiar fill. As for me I am elated that not only did I know Boomer ESIASON but spelled it right!!!!!!!
I liked the clever theme, too, which my four year old granddaughter now sings every time she sees me. And the older one has learned to play it on the piano.
OTTERPOPS are a summer staple here when the sun is raging and scorching us all.
I read the Divine Secrets of the YAYA Sisterhood some years ago. It's a fun, witty tale.
Well done, Jeff Chen. Thank you.
Have super Tuesday, everyone!
Ah vous dirais-je, Maman by Bouin.
Melody also shared by the German:
"Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann" (Tomorro comes Santa Claus)
What's a "perp" and a CSO?
A perp is a word crossing the one you are looking for. It is Perpendicular to the target entry.
CSO: A shout out is a reference to someone you know but here it is usually a coincident. 8-Across mentions Boomer which also happens to be C.C.'s husband's nickname.
Hola Everyone, This puzzle was right down my alley. I wish I'd had a dime for every time I've sung this song with my classes over the years. A fun, fun puzzle.
I didn't know Esiason but the perps were lifesavers here. Otter pops was another one that was perped out. Other than that, the rest of the puzzle was pretty straight forward.
Great puzzle Jeff and a great writeup, Argyle. Thanks to both of you.
A busy day today, so I'm off.
Hi All - Allergies kicking my butt today and a DNF in the San Francisco area. That's my story and I'm sticking to it... LEOs-I killed me. I never saw PIUS coming.
WEES - Jeff Chen on a Tues!?! But what a fun pzl. Some MOXIE to do the whole ABC...Z's thing! Thanks to Jeff and Argyle for the writeup.
OK, the real NERDs (hand up Bill G & HG) are looking forward to next year - 3/14/15 @9:26 & 53s AM will give us more Pi than we can eat.
I'll ZIPIT now as the Benadryl kicks in...
Cheers, -T
Hi Y'all! The ABC theme was so easy, I guess, Jeff threw in a bunch of unknowns to spice it up. Still fun!
Took a sec to remember ARP's first name. I'd never heard of ESIASON, Rain-BLO candy, ISLANDERS, of OTTERPOPS (doesn't sound edible to me).
UAL was a gimmee. I've flown into and out of Denver on it.
Marti, I'm into "Where'd You Go, Bernadette". I can relate to that poor character. What a hoot!
Nice theme and fun seeing a different grid pattern than the normal top-bottom symmetry.
Thanks for the expo, Argyle.
Jean Arp also called himself Hans Arp - if he was speaking French he used Jean, if he was speaking German he used Hans.
UAL - my preferred airline. I've lost count of the times I've changed planes at Denver.
Argyle: Wonderful write-up ... and figuring out this was a pangram. lol
Jeff: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday puzzle.
Lemon: Gee, I was expecting you to say that not knowing ESIASON was proof that football is fading in the US.
My fave today, of course, was that popped New Year's Eve CORK.
Cheers!
While eating lunch, I decided to poke around the web, er, I mean SURF, and do a little more research on OTTER POPS.
Turns out there were public protests and demonstrations back in 1996. You can read more about them here: Here
For some reason ESIASON reminds me of Esau, and that, of course reminds me of Alan Bennett. From things HG has said, I think his preacher may be a bit like that. Some might accuse me of making a religious post -- believe me, it's not.
Yep - A great puzzle today. Always enjoy Jeff's themes and challenging cluing.
When Hondo mentioned the Ferris wheel, I was reminded that first one was built in Chicago for the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The cars were the size of train cars holding 60 people, each. The current version on Navy Pier is a tribute to Mr. Ferris.
For more info, the book "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larsen, has a great description of the fair and a serial killer to boot!
Tinman, Boomer Esiason has been a broadcaster for a very long time so his Q rating as a player would be limited. People have long since forgot that John Madden was first a player, then a coach before he became the Turducken man, and the springboard to the career of FRANK CALIENDO . Posey is a current player and one of the faces of the game. You can still root for him and his SF Giants.
Karl, loved Devil in White City . Great read
What a fun puzzle!
Although I've never eaten an OTTERPOP, I've definitely heard of them, so that was an easy one for me.
My capcha is numbers again. Yay.
That was an unusual little puzzle. I wonder how many revisions by Rich occurred?
It's a pretty day. Cool and breezy. A friend called and I'm going to meet him at La Playita for lunch after a short bike ride. Among the traditional Mexican fare, this restaurant has really good chicken/tortilla soup. So soup and maybe a chile relleno? Then tutoring. Then ??? Being retired is all so exciting!
Are any of you watching the latest incarnation of 24?
@Karl and @Lemon - I loved "Devil in the White City", but was very disappointed with Mr. Larson's next - "In the Garden of Beasts".
More like wed or thurs. Then saw it was by chen. Then I knew it wasnt a tuesday. Stick to fridays cchhhen
Steve Finnell, this blog is not the place for your sermonizing.
Several years ago I read Devil in the White City at Lemonade's suggestion on this blog. I enjoyed its look behind the scenes at the building of the Fair and, also, the murder mystery.933
Steve I too waited for his next book ans was disappointed. I think learning about the Ferris Wheel and the Eiffel Tower were among the fun things in the book.
Maria Von Trapp
So, so late to the party today. At least I finally get to relax and hang out here on the corner. WEES. Great puzzle, loved the unusual grid design, and - D'OH!! It was a pangram???
Spitzboov @ 10:58, thanks for the beautifully sung "Ah! vous dirai-je maman."
Musings 2
-Just back from, well, let’s just say I had an eagle on a very short par 4.
-Me, a NERD? I resemble that remark!
-Otto, yes that “flibberty-gibbet, will o' the WISP, clown” was an unsolvable problem called Maria in The Sound of Music.Gasp! “I even heard her singing in the abbey!”
-Allan Bennett makes as much sense as most of what I hear from the pulpit and is at least entertaining.
-Boomer, curious about what to get C.C. for that next birthday? Here’s a little PRADA number. Please note the prohibition of ordering more than 3 of these in thirty days due to high demand.
-The classical variations were fabulous
HG, thanks for the idea for a birthday present for Barbara. I think I'll get two. Three would be excessive.
Good afternoon all,
Clever theme Jeff, a fun little run. I hummed "Twinkle Twinkle" to grandson and asked him what the song was. Of course he knew it as the ABC's. Like Truman, he likes to look over the CW while I'm filling it in.
Perped all of Esiason. Didn't grok the clue to paree until it filled, and I completed wagged BLO.
@Chin: true about vayse and vahs, but humorous.
a beautiful windy spring day here with lots of puffy white clouds
Enjoyed this puzzle quite a bit. Jeff Chen did a great job. I has to actually sing the song because the AND placement had me thrown off for a hot minute. We have OTTER POPS here in L.A., but I haven't heard of RAIN BLO POPS. I remember Boomer ESIASON from when my boys used to be placemats in front of the TV years back.
Watched the season finale of "Bones' last night. Finale of 'Castle' prepared me for another surge of writer' s absurdity; all I could think of was 'all the time they spent finding that house, rebuilding that house; look at it now!'
A fun theme and easy puzzle. Thanks, Jeff. Argyle, witty review.
Having lived in Cincinnati Bengal land for many years I knew Boomer ESIASON.
Hand up for enjoying "Devil in the White City" and "Divine Secrets of the YAYA Sisterhood".
Never heard of OTTERPOPS.
Today was humid and warm. Tomorrow we're threatened with thunderstorms. Hope there's no damage if it storms.
Have a nice evening.
Pat
(ciaosi Italian/Spanish?)
Bill G & HG - I just went to the Saks site and was offered 10% off! Whoot! In the words of DW, I'll "save" $235...
To comment on A-Z. I remember when my sister (10 yrs younger than I) learned the ABCs. LMNOP was two letters, ellemello P.
Cheers, -T
Adding to the Vayse/Vahze discussion.
This puzzle was really lame.
Wonderful, fun puzzle, great write up, and marvelous poem by Owen! What more could we want? Oh yeah, that New Years cork....and I had pinch before A Dash.
I'd forgotten all about that term, Manac. My Dad always switched it up by calling it a Thunder Mug.
I nearly stalled on this puzzle until I saw the alphabet runs and then it all fell into place.
I've never heard of OTTER POPS or RAIN BLO POPS here. Maybe it's a regional thing.
The Stanley Cup wins by the ISLANDERS, 1980 to 1983, were followed by the Edmonton Oilers dynasty with Stanley Cup wins in 1983,84,86,87 and 89. (Gretzky's prime). Montreal has their work cut out to come back against the Rangers this year.
Hi again... The heavy dose of Benadryl is starting to wear off a bit. That's my advanced apology for this post...
IIRC, Rain BLO pops were made by the same company (Leaf Brands) that made Astro Pops of my ute. Though I was a Cubs fan then, I couldn't resist the draw of Space City and the Astro Pop. Now I live in Space City and have worked as a consultant at JSC. Life fulfilled :-)
Anyone have bets on how long it will take us to build our own rockets again to get to the ISS? (Go SpaceX!) If Skylab is any indicator, it will be a while. Eric Burger had a nice article on it in the H-Chron. C, -T
oops, Eric Berger... -T
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