Theme: "Let's Party"- LET is inserted into each theme answer.
22A. Tale about the making of a quilt? : COVERLET STORY. Cover story.
38A. Low-priced entrée item? : BUDGET CUTLET. Budget cut.
56A. Sign of embarrassment? : SCARLET FACE. Scarface.
82A. Sale on ornamental bands? : ARMLETS DEAL. Arms deal. Same insertion approach as 15D. So no odd man out in Gail's set.
97A. Shopper comparing iPad prices? : TABLET HUNTER. Tab Hunter.
119A. Oldest in a delivery line? : SENIOR TRIPLET. Senior trip.
15D. Wine bar tip containers? : GOBLETS OF MONEY. Gobs of money.
51D. Bargain mall in the Sahara? : OUTLET OF AFRICA. Out of Africa.
I
like when added LETs are not the diminutive suffixes, i.e, the new
*LET words are not rooted in the old words, so Gail's theme choices
work very well.
Across:
1. Indian in "The Big Bang Theory" : RAJ. The Simpsons Indian guy is APU.
4. Durable do : PERM
8. "That's the spot!" : AHH
11. Shape seen at some crossings : OCTAGON
18. Mil. mailroom : APO
19. First aid plant : ALOE
20. Nice friend : AMIE. I have no AMIE in Nice.
21. 1953 Biblical epic : THE ROBE. Never saw it.
25. Fuel storage unit : COAL BIN
26. Group mailing aid : E-LIST. Not a term I use.
27. User shortcuts : HOT KEYS. Keyboard shortcut. Like Ctrl + P for Print.
29. Russian city on the Oka : OREL. Never heard of the city, or the Oka River.
30. Ennui, with "the" : BLAHS
31. Political satirist Stewart : JON. Do you like John Oliver also? That's the funniest clip I've seen in a long time. You'll forgive I'm Too Sexy.
32. "Didn't mean to do that!" : OOPS
34. Faith group : SECT
37. Hollandaise ingredient : YOLK
43. __:CON: Weather Channel twister probability index : TOR. I had to google. It stands for Tornado Condition.
44. They're sometimes written by guests : OP-EDs
46. Río de la Plata country: Abbr. : URU. Uruguay.
47. Identical : SAME
48. Respond to a tort, perhaps : SUE
49. Not in time : TOO LATE
52. Class-conscious one, briefly? : PROF. Great clue.
53. Bleeping overseers : CENSORS
55. __ Dhabi : ABU
60. Searches carefully : SIFTS
61. Glassmaking ingredient : POTASH
63. Alarmed cries : EEKS
64. Court tactic : LOB. Tennis court.
65. Disease-stricken tree : ELM
66. Fly off the shelves : SELL
67. Yoga posture : ASANA
69. Dummies : DODOS. Not our sweet Dodo.
71. Caracas crackers? : LOCO. Just "crazy" in Spanish.
74. Org. concerned with CFCs : EPA
76. Sky god after whom a weekday is named : TIU. Tyr in Norse myth.
77. Radius, e.g. : BONE
78. Webpage button under a bill : PAY NOW
80. Gets in the game : ANTES
85. "The Book of __": 2010 film : ELI
86. "Star Trek" diagnostic tool : BIO-SCAN
88. Three-part snack : OREO. And 81D. Nabisco snack brand : NILLA
89. Altar attendant : ACOLYTE
91. E.T. from Melmac : ALF
92. Retro sign word : OLDE
94. Co. involved in arrangements : FTD. Flower arrangements.
95. Rugged ridge : ARETE
96. Infamous 1974 bank-robbing gp. : SLA
100. Pieces of 8? : ARCS. Oh, in number 8, there are a few ARCS.
104. Sword handle : HAFT
106. Distance swimmer Diana : NYAD
107. Brit. lexicon : OED
108. Flat substitute : SPARE. Tire.
109. Pool accessory : RACK
111. Fake it, in a way : LIP SYNC
115. __ Sound : PUGET
116. "Let me repeat ..." : AS I SAID
122. Swiss tourist city : LUCERNE. Have you been here, Marti/Steve?
123. "Chocolat" actress : OLIN (Lena)
124. Parting words? : OBIT
125. Galoot : APE
126. Fit to be tied : IN A RAGE
127. Target in some sports : NET
128. Carry on : WAGE. As war.
129. TV's "Science Guy" : NYE (Bill)
Down:
1. Zoom past : RACE BY
2. Theater near Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard : APOLLO
3. Merry : JOVIAL
4. What a junker might be good for : PARTS
5. Angular shape : ELL
6. Shad output : ROE. With
grits, as we learned last week.
7. Means : METHODS
8. One way to run : AMOK
9. Addition to the staff : HIRE
10. "Psst!" : HEY YOU
11. Available without a scrip : OTC
12. Hand-waving kid's cry : CHOOSE ME
13. Rip : TEAR
14. Van Gogh inspiration : ARLES. I see his bedroom every day.
16. It's a cinch in Sapporo : OBI
17. Former Giants pitcher Robb : NEN. This often stump non-sports fans. He's in the 300 save club. Total 314 career saves.
20. Case worker: Abbr. : ATT. ADA too. We also have 35D. Place for a case : COURT
23. '60s Israeli prime minister : ESHKOL (Levi). Never heard of the guy.
24. Hit, say : SONG
28. They're often blitzed : SOTS
31. Herod's kingdom : JUDEA
33. Control group handout : PLACEBO
36. Hair piece : TRESS
38. "You __!" : BETCHA. So Minnesotan.
39. California's motto : EUREKA
40. Easy gaits : TROTS
41. Place for a link : CUFF
42. Jittery : TENSE
45. "I'd rather not" : PASS
49. Pub array : TAPS
50. English horn kin : OBOE
52. Full legislative assembly : PLENUM. New word to me. Dictionary says it's rooted in Latin "Plenus", meaning "full". Opposite of "Vacuum".
54. Nonsensical : SILLY
57. Put on again : RE-AIR
58. "The Tempest" king : ALONSO
59. Hard to crack : CODED.
Not for Snowden. I'm worried about what Russian intelligence agency
does to him. The 31-Across Right Said Fred song applies to Putin as
well.
62. French high spots : ALPES
68. One way to fly : STAND BY
69. College URL ending : DOT EDU
70. Orthodontic device : SPACER
72. Maker of the Commando rifle : COLT
73. Toddler's boo-boo : OWIE
75. Race site for more than 300 years : ASCOT
77. Sea bed? : BERTH. Another great clue.
79. Bunches : A LOT
80. Shame : ABASH
83. Artist's rental : LOFT
84. Like sea lions : EARED
87. "Matzo Balls for Breakfast" author : ALAN KING. Never had Matzo balls. You?
90. Jump to one's feet : LEAP UP
93. Israir alternative : EL AL
95. Suffered humiliation : ATE CROW. What many of you wanted on Thursday.
98. National Inventors' Day is observed on his birthday : EDISON. Neat trivia.
99. It's prohibited : NO NO
101. Sleeve type seen in sportswear : RAGLAN. OK, can you show me a picture?
102. Spine-tingling : CREEPY
103. Parlor piece : SETTEE
105. It's a stunner : TASER
108. Ill will : SPITE
110. "Flashdance... What a Feeling" singer : CARA
112. Athlete dubbed "O Rei do Futebol" : PELE. "The King of Football".
113. Pique : SNIT
114. Taoist force : YIN
116. Poetic pugilist : ALI
117. It may be blocked by a screen : SUN
118. Bad ending? : DEE
120. Sched. uncertainty : TBA
121. Drilling equipment : RIG
Happy Birthday to Barry G, the Cal Ripken, Jr. of our blog. Barry test-solved my very first solo puzzle and has been patiently giving me solid feedback over the years. Thank you so much, Barry! Longevity noodles from your in-laws today or going out to celebrate?
 |
| Barry, his wife & son (Joshua) |
C.C.
There once was a fellow named HamLET
ReplyDeleteWho wanted to nosh on an omeLET
But the eggs were grade B,
And did disagree;
He spent the rest of the night in the toiLET!
Shakespeare gained fame for his sonnets.
Limericks? Not so much, to be honest.
With words he wrote plays,
With words, limerick plays,
Making puns that sometimes have astonished!
No one got yesterday's Cryptic clue, which I thought would be easy.
Age's confident correction
[ERA] + [SURE] = [ERASURE]
Sounds a little bit confusing but overall, its kinda interesting though.
ReplyDelete"Flashdance... What a Feeling" singer : CARA - nice one
After many write-overs, I finished filling, but no ta-da. So many wags that looking for typos seemed pointless, so I hit the check button. Surprise, only two squares lit up: RAke. Changed it to RACK and all was well. That changed kARA to CARA, which I still didn't know, and ALAN eING, who I thought was someone else I didn't know, to ALAN KING, whom I should have known right off. After all, how many Jewish comedy writers named Alan can there be? (Allan Sherman, Woody Allen, Al Franken ...).
ReplyDeleteI'm still going to try and show you that Cryptic clues can be fun. Here's a Cryptic clue for a word in today's puzzle:
Appaloosa's cottage hides horse track
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteFun Sunday romp. A couple of complete unknowns (ESHKOL, NEN) and some barely remembered obscurities (TIU, NYAD), but just about everything else was solidly in my wheelhouse today.
I had some minor stumbles along the way, such as BIT for RIG, AAH for AHH and SILICA for POTASH, but those eventually worked themselves out. POTASH was the last to fall into place simply because I just could not think of TAPS.
Thanks for the birthday wishes, C.C.! My mom's coming over and we're all going out for Italian. I'm sure there will be noodles involved, although I'm not sure about the longevity part. Regardless, here's hoping for another 48 years...
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI almost had to EAT CROW (aka DIRT) this morning due to the crossings of PLENUM, ASANA, REAIR and TIU. REAIR began life as REDON and then RERUN before I threw up my hands in REAIR. I thought PLENUM was a thingee in an heating duct! But then, a full legislative assembly would also be full of hot air, so I guess it fits.
TROTS conjures up an image other than an "easy gait." And is it going to be AHH or AAH?
SENIOR TRIP reminds me of my ute. In eighth grade we didn't get the traditional eighth grade trip because our class was too big. In my senior year we didn't get the traditional senior trip because our class was too big. But we were allowed to take the trip money we'd collected and buy a present for the school. And just how big was that class? Sixty-three kids.
HBD, Barry!
I thought Jim Grabowski did this puzzle the way it bruised me. There were too many unknowns to allow WAGs and PERPS to complete the puzzle. I struggled and got almost all of it even though I had never heard of COAL BIN(I originally put CALORIE),TOR, TIU, ACOLYTE, BIOSCAN, NEN, THE ROBE, ESHKOL, ALAN KING, RAGLAN, or The book of ELI. It was a DNF because of the intersections of COLT with ACOLYTE and ELI.
ReplyDeleteAnd what is an E-LIST? The almost undesirables just ahead of the F-LIST? A-list or Elite, I have heard of but not E.
Speaking of the SLA, I wonder what happened to Patty Hearst. That group was getting more press than the Watergate hijinks.
The acronyms (OED SLA EPA TBA) were about the only things I felt safe about this morning and so I feel like a DODO or is that a NONO to write that?
After spending way too much time on a very frustrating typo hunt I finally turned on the red letters as the clock ticked past the 45-minute mark. I may need new glasses. Or a larger monitor. An "E" had ended up as the last letter in CUFF and I was misreading it (the lower line blending with the black square below).
ReplyDelete"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln . . . "
It was a good puzzle with a clever (and helpful) theme.
Good morning C.C.!
ReplyDeleteAnd happy 48th birthday, BarryG. Great picture of you and the family. Have a fun day!
¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫
I enjoyed the puzzle, and got the theme on the first one, COVERLET STORY. As I mentioned yesterday, punn-y themes are my favorite, and I had fun trying to guess the entries before relying on perps.
On a raglan sleeve, the seam goes diagonally from the armpit to the neckline, instead of vertically at the shoulder line.
C.C., one of my most memorable trips to Lucerne was with two of my sisters. One of them was just recovering from cancer surgery, and we stayed at Chateau Gütsch in the Alexander Suite, The views from our patio were absolutely stunning! The pictures and memories of that trip are priceless, since both sisters are now dead.
Good Morning, C.C. and friends. I got the gimmick quickly with the COVERLET STORY. After that, I looked for the LET.
ReplyDeleteFresh new clue for our friend Lena OLIN.
Levi ESHKOL. was Israel’s 3rd Prime Minister. He served from 1963 until his death of a heart attack in 1969.
The Rio de la Plata also runs through Argentina, so I initially tried ARG instead of URU.
Matzah Ball soup is a staple at many Passover Seders.
QOD: Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~ Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry (June 29, 1900 ~ July 31, 1944)
Musings
ReplyDelete-What a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning after another inch of rain last night and before another soaking tonight. The drought dragon has definitely been slain here.
-OUTLET OF AFRICA my fav. Also cluing for OBIS, LOCO, ARCS, OBIT, BERTH
-Did you use the phrase “sneak day” for SENIOR TRIP?
-My old friend I saw at the reunion this weekend has also obtained an accent. He moved to Alabama and flies the recruiting Gulfstream plane for Nick Saban and the other Bama coaches
-At the reunion we all thought 50 years did seem to RACE BY
-The activity in this OCTAGON is not for me
-National TOR:CON posted yesterday
-OOPS - not what you want to hear during LASIK surgery
-Identical – I heard a man used doppelganger in casual conversation last Friday
-It’s TOO LATE Baby (5:15)
-The seeming randomness of getting the ball into the NET makes fútbol a hard watch for me
-PARTS is PARTS (:31)
-Lady Godiva preferred TRESSES over dresses
-You might just RE-AIR if you don’t have a SPARE
-HBD Barry!
Happy birthday, Barry.
ReplyDeleteLots of fun today. I found this to be of average Sunday difficulty. I got the theme at the onset, which was very helpful.
NEN and ESHKOL were all perps. ASANA finally dawned on me after 4 perps. No other unknowns.
I hope the budget cutlet was chicken. Budget veal cutlets can be tough.
I think part of Lake Lucerne is in the Swiss canton, URI, which used to be a crossword staple.
My grandson loves matzo ball soup.
I attended many meetings where we dispersed into various discussion groups and reassembled to pool our thoughts in a PLENUM or plenary session.
Wanted ARG for Rio de la Plata but waited until I had a U.
I thought of the old silver Spanish dollar coin which used to be cut into 8 pieces called bits or pieces of eight. They were shaped like a slice of pie. The one edge was an arc. Two bits would be a quarter of the dollar, which is why we call 25 cents two bits.
I knew of TYR, but had to wait for perps for I U in TIU,
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteSteady fill from top to bottom, with just a few bumps. Put in Hilt before Haft, the latter being a word I might well forget had it not been used a lot in the Cave Bear series of books.
Morning C.C., I think I had Matzo balls on the last New Years Eve. This was at a mixed household in which the wife is Jewish, and the Norwegian husband does the cooking - even the Matzos.
Hi Y'all! Much of this puzzle was over my head, I say with a SCARLET FACE, when I could not even come up with the word FACE in the process. I came up with the LETs in the title but kept waiting for the Party to happen. No party. For me it was a chore. But then I've been a little under the weather and wanting to sleep all the time until I'm practically zombie state. That's my COVERLET STORY and I'm stickin' to it.
ReplyDeleteELIST? I'm guessing that's the email list? For a "mailing aid", I was trying to remember the name of the old postage meter I used to do billings. I'm still stuck in the "snail mail" era.
THE ROBE was one of my mother's all-time favorite movies. Being a Sunday School teacher, she arranged for carloads of church members to go to the nearby county seat town to see the show. I was probably 12 years old.
C.C.-I enjoyed your expo. D-O, loved your PLENUM comment.
Happy Birthday, Barry!
PK, I agree regarding E list. Electronic mailing list. Our local square dance club has an E list to simplify emailing our members.
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a real workout, Gail! Thanks also to CC for a nice review!
Happy Birthday to you, Barry! Nice pic.
Total unknowns (not guessable) were ESHKOL, NEN, OREL and TIU. Many WAGs from a few perps. Also tried Hilt before HAFT, Arg before URU.
Was somewhat amazed when the TADA appeared with no typos or cheats!
Have a good day, all!
Hi Everyone:
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this clever offering from Gail, although I had a few miscues until the perps corrected them: Afro/perm, overdue/too late, buy now/pay now, and aah/ahh. Caught the theme early on and that made the solve easier, though not quicker because of a few tricky areas.
Well done, Gail, and thanks, CC, for your fine expo.
Happy Birthday, Barry. Hope you have a wonderful day and a delicious Italian feast!
Having my sister, Eileen, for dinner tonight. I'm not cooking, though, as she's picking up Clams Casino and Clams in a spicy marinara sauce from our fav Italian restaurant. (In case you have any doubts, we are both clam kooks!)
One of my nieces had a very bad accident Friday night on I-495 near the Lowell, Mass. Connector. Thankfully, she wasn't injured but the car was totaled. Fortunately, her 8 year old son was with his father in another vehicle, about 15 minutes behind her. Anyone who has traveled that highway knows how dangerous it can be.
Have a super Sunday.
Hello, puzzlers! It's always a pleasure to see you, C.C. and give us pointers on the obscure (for me) sports fill.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Barry!
This was a fun and slow, slow finish and I had to WAG quite a lot but it eventually all came together.
I grokked the theme and it helped immensely in several places. Not much time to comment until later.
Have a sensational Sunday, everyone,especially Barry!
For pk: Is this your meter?
ReplyDeletePitney-Bowes
Argyle: That isn't quite my meter, although I'm pretty sure it was a Pitney Bowes, now that I've heard the name again. I think the one I used had some kind of rack on one side. The letters were fed in one side and "spit" into the tray. It's been too long and I only used it once a month when I had 50 envelopes. Another lady used it daily. Thanks for the picture though.
ReplyDeleteHi All ~~
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy Gail's puzzles and I thought this theme was so clever today. I did have trouble in a number of spots, however, and only made sense of a couple of things after reading C.C.'s write-up. Thanks for explaining TORCON, and also 108A - Flat substitute / TIRE. I was thinking of a flat as an apartment. Duh.
ESHKOL and PLENUM were unknowns. Not familiar with ARMLET - wanted Anklet.
I really liked 'Class-conscious one, briefly' / PROF.
Happy Birthday, Barry ~ I hope you're having a wonderful day!
This was another DNF for me. I had RAKE instead of RACK and didn't look over the grid so missed seeing that I had ALANEING instead of ANANKING.
ReplyDeleteToday is Steve's and my 46th wedding anniversary so we'll be going out to our favorite restaurant for dinner tonight.
Happy Birthday Barry.
Marti:
ReplyDeleteYour story of a poignant trip with your sisters made me flinch and realize how uncertain is life. You have certainly been hit hard by the big C.
The moral, ergo, is enjoy every day as if it were the last; this year my sisters and I plan to spend our week together in Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria Island later this summer.
Gail's puzzle had many familiar references for me: ASANA, THE ROBE, PROF (loved the clue), ACOLYTE and a few others. ACOLYTE is actually one of the steps in Holy Orders just before Deacon.
PELE is very appropriate in this season of the World Cup and I enjoyed the fresh cluing for TRESS. In fact this puzzle left me quite JOVIAL.
For a seamstress, RAGLAN sleeves are an easy alternative from regular sleeves.
LET me say how much I enjoyed the puzzle and the theme. Thanks Gail and CC.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Barry! I hope you have a nice Italian feast. We are going to an Italian restaurant soon for our second anniversary lunch.
Irish Miss, good luck for your niece. Nancy, happy anniversary!
Gary, I agree with you about that octagon. I just don't get it.
I like regular matzo OK with a little butter. Not great, but OK. I had a taste of matzo ball soup once. It was not my idea of good soup. I guess it all depends on what you grow up with.
We had a coal bin in the 1940's. Did any of you? Periodically a dump truck driver would shovel coal down a chute through a basement window into the coal bin. I loved the sound of the coal rattling down the metal chute. My dad shoveled the coal into the furnace. There was a lever on the furnace to shake ashes from the grate. Then the ashes were raked out and placed in ash cans.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary Nancy and Steve.
Irish Miss, what a relief your niece survived the accident unscathed, even though it was unfortunate that the car was totaled.
People who graduate from college this year have never experienced life without The Simpsons.
ReplyDeleteYes, we had a coal bin when I was very little. Then the water heater became electric and the furnace was fueled with heating oil. We had a dug well and a septic tank until I left home. The well water was cold and tasted good but you had to take short showers.
Happy Anniversary, Nancy & Steve! Hope you are celebrating at this time of night, but will wish you many more anyway. Lots of june brides at our Corner.
ReplyDeleteOnly 12 kids in my senior class. We had a great trip to Lake of the Ozarks. I ran out of money and had a ratty old bathing suit that ripped. Our principal was on the trip and loaned me $20 for a new red & white striped bathing suit that was very flattering, I was told.
Good Monday morning, folks. Thank you, Gail Grabowski, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteTook me a while to get this. That ARMBAND area was my Waterloo.Could not think of RE AIR. Tried RE DON and RE RUN.
The rest of the puzzle was not bad. The theme was outstanding.
I have COAL BIN in my PA house. Just do not use it. Have a wood burner though and a gas furnace.
APOLLO theater was easy. Boy do I remember Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. He was always in the news when I was a youth. Went to Biminy quite often, on junkets, I believe.
Happy Birthday, Barry, and many more. Nice photo of you and your family.
Spent the weekend in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Now in New York state heading to Camillus. Then back to Pennsylvania.
See you later today if I can get the puzzle. Cruciverb did not have it earlier.
Abejoyek
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