Words: 68 (missing B,F,J,Q,X,Y,Z)
Blocks: 25
We have us a new Saturday constructor~! Melanie has had 5 LAT puzzles, with the last one
coming in Feb on a Monday. Today's offering had some similar
clues/answers to that grid, I noticed. Chunky corners of
9's and 8's, with two 11-letter fills on the inside. Fairly difficult
for a Saturday, IMHO, but I was able to solve without any look-ups or
cheating, and only the SW corner requiring some WAGs to complete. The
two longer answers:
20a. Ranks achieved by Armstrong and Lovell : EAGLE SCOUTS - Two astronauts who reached the highest 'rank' in the Boy Scouts - Wiki
53a. Events after shootings : WRAP PARTIES
- Melanie's last puzzle was a "party" theme, and this in not the violent
kind of shooting, but the movie set type - I worked on a made-for-TV
film way back in '97, and we had us a Wrap Party the following summer
with a preview of the finished show.
"OM" ward~! (working my 60a.)
ACROSS:
1. Harassed, in a way : HEN-PECKED
10. Lenox brand : DANSK - their enameled steel cookware looks familar
15. Busy state to go into : OVERDRIVE
16. Boiling : IRATE
17. Made for the tube : TELEGENIC
18. Decalogue delivery site : SINAI
19. They may hook you up, briefly : RNs - Hook you up to IVs, tho I have seen certain movies....
22. Los __, city near San Luis Obispo : OSOS
24. Greenland capital : KRONE - this being the money kind of capital, not the city
25. Flanged bit of hardware : T-NUT
26. Powder holder : DONUT - Cute
28. Added a little to the pot : ANTED
30. Took in takeout : ATE - Nice clue alliteration
31. First lady after Bess : MAMIE - Truman and Eisenhower
33. Kind : MANNER
35. Kind of support : SPOUSAL
38. "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka" composer : STRAUSS
39. "The Fox and the Hound" hound : COPPER - What does the fox say?
40. Stops running? : CLOTS - Ah, like wounds
41. Beluga output : ROE
42. Arabian capital : SANA'A - Yemen
44. "__ luego" : HASTA
48. Bald eagle cousins : ERNS
50. Settles : CALMS
52. Start of many a prayer : LORD
10. Lenox brand : DANSK - their enameled steel cookware looks familar
15. Busy state to go into : OVERDRIVE
16. Boiling : IRATE
17. Made for the tube : TELEGENIC
18. Decalogue delivery site : SINAI
19. They may hook you up, briefly : RNs - Hook you up to IVs, tho I have seen certain movies....
22. Los __, city near San Luis Obispo : OSOS
25. Flanged bit of hardware : T-NUT
26. Powder holder : DONUT - Cute
28. Added a little to the pot : ANTED
30. Took in takeout : ATE - Nice clue alliteration
31. First lady after Bess : MAMIE - Truman and Eisenhower
33. Kind : MANNER
35. Kind of support : SPOUSAL
38. "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka" composer : STRAUSS
39. "The Fox and the Hound" hound : COPPER - What does the fox say?
41. Beluga output : ROE
42. Arabian capital : SANA'A - Yemen
44. "__ luego" : HASTA
48. Bald eagle cousins : ERNS
50. Settles : CALMS
52. Start of many a prayer : LORD
56. Crib cry : WAH - Two cries, and it's a guitar effects pedal....
57. Gugino of "Night at the Museum" : CARLA - a WAG with the --RL- in place
58. Exterminator's target : CENTIPEDE - among other creepy-crawlies; 'round here, it's ants, crickets and lately, wasps
60. Hindu principle of life : ĀTMAN - this was a WAG for me, too
61. "The Raven" feature : OCTAMETER
62. Pains : PESTS
63. Pump house? : SHOE STORE - Nailed it; I love women in platform pumps - so sexy - and if they zip up at the back....ha-muna ha-muna
1. Zoom : HOT-ROD - the verb, not the noun
2. Yet : EVEN SO
3. Hold on a mat : NELSON - Educated WAG
4. Start to date? : PRE - predate, as in 'comes before'
5. It's uncomfortable to be on it : EDGE
6. Sign of age : CREAK - I had CRACK to start, pretty close; that's 80% right
7. Large, long-billed marsh bird : KING RAIL
10. Round snow toy : DISC - I had a wood and metal sled as a kid
11. "That's __!": "Funny!" : A RIOT
12. Otherworldly greeting? : NANU-NANU - Mork from Ork's greeting
13. Former bills : STATUTES
14. Bums' American counterparts : KEISTERS - anyone else see this as "B-u-r-n-s" first? Once I had the K----STER, I figured out my eyes were getting a bit wacky
21. Look that way : SEEM TO
23. Recap : SUM UP
27. Stuns in an arrest : TASEs
29. Sith title : DARTH - Star Wars reference, which I won't miss~! Vader, Maul, and others
32. Rumba shaker : MARACA - shaking like your keister
34. Cavity opening? : NASAL
35. Cork alternative : SCREW-CAP - DAH~! I wanted TWIST-CAP, but I knew ROE was correct
36. Elizabethan property tax to benefit the disadvantaged : POOR RATE - the "T" was my last fill
37. Title words before "Nothing to hide," in a Journey hit : OPEN ARMS - Link away~!
38. Collide with : SLAM INTO
40. MIT rival, despite the distance : CALTECH
43. Some agents : NARCOs
45. Site of a 1976 anti-apartheid uprising : SOWETO - Part of Johannesburg, South Africa
46. Broker's customer : TRADER
47. Hold tight : ADHERE
49. Fall sound : "SPLAT~!"
51. Spiders' sensors, e.g. : SETAE - Latin for bristle, it's the hairs on a spider's legs, e.g.
54. Sweeps the set : PANS - another movie-making term
55. Virtual people, in a popular game series : SIMs - I love Sim City, but couldn't get into the virtual reality of the individual people version of the game (but I do have it). Here's the crop circles that UFOs left on my farm in my last Sim City game
Splynter
40 comments:
Here is the Cryptic clue for one of the words in today's puzzle. As a hint, this clue has two types of wordplay, so you might find it a bit more difficult.
Unwrapped ornament shattered, in a way (6)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HENPECKED would describe Milquetoast,
A more timid husband than most.
When his wife gets IRATE
His MANNER she'll berate,
"SPOUSAL abuse!" is his standart riposte.
Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, te, do
Is how the progression of notes should go.
But confusing a T-NUT
With a powdered DONUT
Gives a tummy-ache -- or collapsing chateau! *
* T-NUTS are used mainly for furniture, so I originally had daveno (I grew up with one in our living room), but when I searched to verify the spelling, it didn't seem to exist! How many of you know that word?
Morning, all!
This one was just too much for me, to be honest, although I did manage to actually finish unassisted thanks to a lucky guess at the crossing of ATMAN (never heard of it) and PANS (just couldn't figure it out from the clue). ATMAN/PANS just looked slightly more likely than, say, ATMAR/PARS or ATMAY/PAYS. Still just a lucky guess, though.
Elsewhere, I struggled with (but eventually got) DANSK (barely heard of it), HOT ROD (clued as a verb), COPPER (didn't know it), OPEN ARMS (didn't know it), CREAK (tricky clue), OCTAMETER (Seriously?), CLOTS (as clued), etc., etc., etc. Just rough all over the place. It's a Saturday, though, so I was up for the challenge.
Good morning everyone!
Thanks for "What Does the Fox Say," Splyter. After that video went viral, Ylvis signed a deal with Simon and Schuster for a children's book of the same title.
Fun puzzle today. I started reeeeaaaally slowly, and only had NELSON and HASTA on my first pass, I think. But for 4-D "Start to date?" I put "dee" in stead of PRE and at 19-A I had IVS instead of RNS. Big mistake that prevented me from seeing anything in that corner for the longest time.
SOWETO in perfect symmetry to NELSON was begging for a different clue than wrestling. Anon @ 5:44, thanks for linking "Bring Him Back Home." Very uplifting!
OwenKL, I did get yesterday's cryptic answer correctly. To me, they are not exactly the same sound, but close enough. I'll have to chew on today's a little more...
Good morning!
DNF, DNF, DNF! I got all of the east and almost all of the north (hand up for DEE). But I stuck with CAST PARTIES and couldn't wrap things up in the southwest. I'm blaming that long hike down TX Hwy 165.
SOWETO is similar to SOHO -- South Western Townships.
Splynter, I'll only give ya 60% on CRACK/CREAK -- yes they both have an A, but in different spots. Yeah, I'm a purist.
HASTA luego!
CRACK/CREAK - HASTA LUMBAGO!
Good day all,
The SW did me in , but good. Managed to wag and slog my way through the rest of it. Did manage to get WRAP PARTIES, ROE, SCREW CAP and SPLAT in the SW, but that was it. Just drew blanks on the open items. Really felt dumb when I saw the fills.
One nit though, 3D Hold on a mat/ NELSON. I'm not an expert on wrestling, but I've heard of a hold called Half Nelson or Full Nelson, but can't ever recall hearing just NELSON.
Power was out for almost 24 hrs due to the storm. First opportunity for the generator to show "what its got" and it did. A virtuoso performance. would not have been happy if we missed the World Cup games.
I liked the cluing here, especially for HENPECKED, OVRRDRIVE and DONUT. I thought it was easier than most Saturdays, not easy but I filled a little faster. Avoided someof the pitfalls mentioned.
Argyle - excellent!
Thanks Splynter and Melanie
It took forever to fill this sea of white, and had to make 2 trips to the G Spot to finish the SW. Started 35d with screw top, which slowed thigs down as badly as the aforementioned Dee. Finally googled Open Arms, so that let me wag Carla. Could only guess the T in Atman, but didn't like it well enough to be convinced withou that second google. All other unknowns perped, but it was a slog. There are times that a red letter feature would help, but I can't seem to find the button in my paper.
Hi again~!
Aw, D-Otto, I had a feeling you'd not forgive me the "A" placement~!
I didn't see the connection between NELSON and SOWETO, though I have to say, cross-referenced clues on a Saturday usually irritate.
Splynter
Well, I turned on the red letters at the 50-minute mark. The good news was that there was only one. I had OCTOMETER (my other option had been OCTIMETER). I guess I should have known better (though the perp was no help). The bad news was I still had six empty squares. In the SW corner. I had POORR and OPENA but couldn't close the deal. As Scarlett says, tomorrow's another day.
[DNF]
Fun puzzle, but I needed several red letters. I do the puzzle in ink and then, if I have problem sections, I go online to red letter them. Drawing a line from the three black cells in the north to the three black cells in the south, I found the right half quite easy. I struggled in the NW with many a write over, but finally got it without help. In the SW, I tried COOPER and COWPER before COPPER.
Red lettering that P allowed me to fill in the P and RM in OPEN ARMS and gave me CARLA. I red lettered the T in ATMAN. I may have seen it before, but I couldn't come up with it.
Splynter, those shoes may be sexy, but OUCH!! Our bank manager wears 5 inch heels which look great. One day there were too many customers for the number of tellers, so she came out from the lunch room with no shoes on. Obviously she pays a price for looking sexy.
14. Bums' American counterparts : KEISTERS - anyone else see this as "B-u-r-n-s" first? Once I had the K----STER, I figured out my eyes were getting a bit wacky
Yes I did... couldn't figure out the relationship.
When clarified as BUMS'. it makes much more sense; altho' Franklin's little crossword solver device has no such answer/spelling.
Is it worse to have no clue what to enter or have so many alternatives? I had the latter but “got ‘er done”. Wow!
Musings
-Too many unknowns that just fell out to list
-PAN the set was my last fill after I chanced carlA over carlO and carlY
-Neil and Jim were not BIRD COLONELS but EAGLE SCOUTS
-I suspect Lenox does not make DANON yogurt
-Does anyone really use this OVERDRIVE button?
-I got KRONE but was surprised I had never heard of the the capital city of Greenland
-Do you think MAMIE ever HEN-PECKED Ike?
-My MIL’s only funeral request is to have as many polkas as possible played
-Don’t Google what women’s feet look like after years of wearing those platform shoes. It ain’t pretty!
HOT ROD Lincoln that get’s shoved into OVERDRIVE in the lyric (2:44)
-Living on the EDGE ain’t our style
-LUCIFER was wrong 7 –letter Satan today
-Fastest/funniest snow DISC ever? (2:43)
-First thought - The YANKEES were in the American League when Brooklyn was the BUMS in the National
-Kitty FULL NELSON
-Sheldon Cooper is on CAL TECH’s mythical payroll
Good Morning:
This was a DNF for me due to the SW corner with Open Arms/Atman crossing, plus I had octometer. Enjoyed the cluing for donut, shoe store, wrap parties, and ate. Had ISP before RNS, Ring Tail before King Rail, and screw top before screw cap. Bums looked like Burns to me, also.
Nice job, Melanie Miller, you gave us a good workout and, Splynter, as always, your enlightening expo 'splains it all very well.
Did anyone watch A Capitol Fourth on PBS last night? The music was uplifting and fireworks were spectacular! Yesterday was a cool, gloomy and dreary day but the sun is shining brightly today.
Owen, since I rarely get your cry-ptics, I'm going to take wild a** guess.
Is it SEEMTO, which could also be considered as SEE IN TWO ....
I am probably wrong, but regardless, I love your cryptics. They are shorter, easier and less nerve wracking than the puzzle itself. Of course, you could also help us a lil bit and give us the starting letter of the word ;-D)
Yesterday, I went to sleep early, as is my routine, and suddenly I got excited. It had been many, many, many, many, - many moons since that has happened. The DW was willing, so we had a 'turn in the hay', and I sowed my wild oats - all over again. Wow, and its was so exhilarating, the skies opened up, paradise was found and fireworks lit up the dendrites in my mind and all.
This morning, on further reflection, I have come to the despondent realization that the fireworks were not in my mind, but something totally extraneous, put out by some crass, taxpayer funded extravaganza for something that happened 250 years ago. This is a real disappointment. What a let down. I am not a happy camper.
Pah ! Humbug ! All that for nothing. And the worst thing is DW didn't even let on or let me know. Back to the drawing board. Whatever.
SEXY, way too early to post an answer. You spoil the fun for others if you are correct
WEES. I noticed the same thing with bums/burns. It's the font, not one of my favorites.
Irish Miss, yes I watched the Capitol Fourth. Very enjoyable. I love the march music at the end of the show. When I was in elementary school, my father took us to the fireworks show on the monument grounds.
The concept of "What Does the Fox Say?" is clever but after the second time, I found the song to be very annoying.
Good morning all.
Way too tough for me today. Finally caved and changed the game to regular with about 20 words entered, and that didn't help at all. Had some really good wags along the way.
Congratulations for a very good Wimbledon to Eugenie Bouchard. She is the first Canadian to ever reach the finals in a major, but was simply overpowered today by Petra Kvitova.
See you all later.
Cooper, copper, karma, atman, octo, octi---I, too, do the puzzle in the newspaper. No red letters GRRR, just cross outs. Oh well, it's always interesting to come here and read the explainings and smash my head because of the "doh" answers. Warm day in the Black Hills and I'm out to water before anything wilts too much. Thank you for an enjoyable puzzle and an equally enjoyable write up!
I can't believe I ALMOST got this great Saturday puzzle! Started out in total despair with only two entries--ANTED and ATE. But slowly, slowly it began to fill in--I could hardly believe it. And in the end I had only two items wrong, HOT RED and OCTOMETER instead of HOT ROD and OCTAMETER. Really not too bad--so, many thanks for a satisfying Saturday morning, Melanie. May you do many more!
And, thanks for the expo, as always, Splynter.
My favorite clue was PUMP HOUSE. I laughed out loud when I finally got that one.
Irish Miss, we stumbled onto "A Capital Fourth" only because "Washington Week in Review" didn't seem to be on last night. I thought it was totally spectacular! The colorful crowds, the orchestras and the bands, the singers and music, Chris Harrison, and the unbelievable fireworks--just amazing. I thought we would pretty much miss Fourth of July celebrations, and instead got a wonderful one!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Oops, that was Tom Bergerov (spelling?) from "Dancing with the Stars," not Harrison from "The Bachelorette," wasn't it? That's what happens when you watch too much junk TV.
Good day, weekend warriors!
Some days I feel telepathic but today was not one. Having said that, the east coast flooded in fairly well and quickly and hand way up for seeing "bums" as "burns." When KEISTERS became obvious I took a second look.
At kind, GENIAL gave way to MANNER and off I went. The SW as others also noted, gave me fits. Finally, after changing TOPPER to COPPER did it come together but I had PASS not PANS and didn't really know ATMAN. ATMAS seemed fine.
Flirting with OCTO/OCTI/OCTA, I finally looked up the spelling and with that SETAE emerged.
At the NW, ditto for IV, OR then RNS which finished that section. Los Osos seemed familiar but was a WAG. Oooh. I also had BAH not WAH so didn't get SOWETO. Drat!
Still it was a good challenge and I'm pleased to have solved most of it. AvgJoe said it best; and my newspaper doesn't have red letters either.
Thank you, Melanie for a good mental workout and Splynter for your always detailed and illustrated commentary.
Have a fantastic Saturday, everyone!
Hello Puzzlers -
DNF today. I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one to have trouble in the SW, or to have Octometer. Managed the rest with help from caffeine, but it was a workout!
At our family party yesterday we had two Scrabble boards in action after our meal. Yes, I won my game then helped my nephew win his. Rookies are allowed help to encourage them and it was his first game. He used all seven tiles for the extra 50 points and was elated.
It was almost as good as fireworks!
Hi Y'all! Last night I did something I'd never done before. I logged on to the puzzle at midnight, read down through the list of clues, then turned the computer off and went to bed. This morning I ate lunch and thus fortified, tried it again. Red-letters were prominent in everything I typed.
I knew NANUNANU & STRAUSS.
The fact that most of you also found this difficult is comforting to me. I thought I was brain dead.
The fireworks display on the country club golf course two blocks from me went on longer than usual last night. Several neighbors were shooting off big stuff that seemed risky in our tree-shaded neighborhood in dry conditions. I'm guessing they all spent enough money to have stocked the food bank a year.
So tough today--!
Making up for the softie on Friday?
Lucina, isn't it exciting to teach our games to the next generation? I know your elation. When my grandson was very young I taught him a modified version of Clue. He caught on very quickly and within a month we moved up to the real rules. I was thrilled he was so good at Clue. Now that he is 16 he plays chess and other games that are beyond me. He would like to play with me, but doesn't know how to teach me the rules and strategy, as I once did for him. He is in a chess club at school, but I haven't played chess in more than 20 years. I suppose I'll have to find out on my own.
After 4 weeks, Alan has now had more than 3 symptomless days. We still are not sure what the problem is or was. Is the improvement due to the extra meds or not? We also went to the GP who has ordered a brain scan. We have had various blood tests. It may be an entirely new problem. Tuesday we will try a new med. It is amazing how much of medicine is trial and error because each patient reacts differently.
This week I was to set up my Sept. knee replacement. Now I will opt for physical and occupational therapy instead, because I am leery to place Alan in the care of others until he is stable. Maybe I will set up knee replacement in the spring.
This was a fun puzzle, but it took me a really long time to solve. Like many others, I thought it was BURNS and couldn't figure out what KEISTERS had to do with someone named BURNS. The T in ATMAN was a WAG. I had SCREW TOP before SCREW CAP, but perps fixed that.
After I had the N and S, DANSK became obvious since I have a set of DANSK Brown Mist dishes and a set of Dansk Variation V flatware. DANSK originated in Denmark. I had no idea that Lenox acquired that brand.
Cryptic solution, with both a subtraction and anagram:
Unwrapped | ornament | shattered, | in a way (6)
[ignore outside letters of] [oRNAMENt] [anagrams to] = [MANNER]
So sorry, Syracuse, but thanks for the encouraging comment. SEEMTO is actually a pretty good guess!
Re: rn/m -- I once had to read a gothic manuscript where the connections at the bottom of "u" and top of "n" & "m" were guesswork, and "i" didn't have a tittle. I dreaded running into "minimum": "ııııııııııııııı".
HG: Thanks for that Greenland map. I was surprised I didn't have a clue to the capital city, either, and didn't guess it was capital money until the 4th or 5th perp. But looking at that map, Greenland should be a cruciberbalist's paradise! Capital Nuuk, Qaanaaq, Aasiaat, Qaqortoq, Kulusuk!
I've never had a use overdrive (except Bachman-Turner Overdrive). Had one car where it was a toggle I wasn't sure was supposed to be up or down, so drove with it for awhile in each position, and didn't notice any difference.
Hi again~!
My father's Ford Escort (and similar cars) has an "Overdrive" gear position; PRNDO. The shift down to OD would reduce the gear ratio for better gas mileage. There was a noticeable drop in the engine revs, too.
Splynter
Owen, even when I understand how your answer was formed, I find it amazingly arcane. Are there are any rules or principles you follow? I believe I understand 99 per cent of how x words clues are formed. Not so with your clues. Is this your own concept or can we read about it somewhere?
Yellowrocks
Amazingly arcane is amazingly gentle in describing the daily pablum endured by this gentle crowd. The limericks fraught with words that tear and strain to rhyme were bad enough, but now a silly game that has no rules other than what the creator deems appropriate on any given day.
There's no intelligent life here. Beam me up Scotty.
Yellowrocks: Cryptic crosswords
are definitely not my invention, though different constructors have their own idiosyncrasies. Believe it or not, you'll find mine are generally clearer than most! Cryptics are the standard type of crosswords in Britain, India, and South Africa. Maybe Canada and Australia, too, I'm not sure about them. American-style crosswords like the LAT are called "simple" or "quick".
Owen, thanks for the info. I will need time to sit down and digest this.
I am surprised to admit that OwenKL has become as toxic as LemonAde714.
When I first got my 1993 used Camry, it had an overdrive button like the one shown in the Gary's link. I knew what it was but wasn't sure when to use it. I even wrote into NPR's Car Talk and asked the Tappet brothers. They said it didn't make much difference but probably I should leave it disengaged when driving around town here (most of my driving). After getting some experience with the car, I decided to leave it engaged all of the time. The car seldom decides to shift itself into fourth gear around town unless I'm cruising down a long street gently. My new Camry has a six speed transmission with no overdrive.
43D "Some agents" = NARCOS?
NARCO is more likely to refer to the perp (or the addict) than the agent. The agents (DEA et al) are usually called NARCS (or NARKS).
Owen, you've finally made it, to our upper class of society. Got the attention of our snarky anon. If you are being derided with likes of Lemonade, you are in very good, even excellent company. Congratulations.
On your actual ("made-up" ?) answer, I have to wonder - where does the 'shattered' fit in ?
I am familiar with the concept of Cryptic crosswords, which I believe, require a much more analytical mind, beyond the simple algorithm of memorisation.
But like all games, one has to be very familiar with the rules and the litany of code words, and cues, and concepts to be able to solve them successfully. Without, (us ) being familiar and knowing the code words and tricks, it would seem, to some of us, that you are making the rules, as you go along.
Maybe your clues need to be a little easier. Like Bill G.'s math problems, - sometimes you get a response or two, sometimes you don't - you win some, you lose some.
I like your limericks too, whether they rhyme or not. If it makes you happy and it is your yearning and hobby, go for it. It makes a lot of other people happy as well, and whats a few hundred kilobytes in this cyberspace of ours. The empty cloud space would probably go to waste anyway. But your limericks will live on the cloud forever, and some hundred years from now, some alien in outer space will be doing his graduate study and getting a Ph.D. after trying to decipher them.
Good night, tomorrow is another day.
@sexy in seattle
Easy comma, easy go.
Comma Monday, it'll be all right.
Comma Monday
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