Theme: "ET Trading" - E is changed into T in each theme entry.
23A. Pair of pooches' synchronized dash? : DOUBLE DOG DART. Double dog dare is a new expression to me.
34A. Boss' personal brewing ingredient? : ALPHA MALT. Alpha male.
50A. Blast off? : START INTO SPACE. Stare into space.
66A. "We're boarding the elevator now, chaps!" : GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFT.
Got to Get You into My Life
87A. Natural source of a Massachusetts dairy product? : BOSTON CREAM PIT. Boston cream pie.
99A. Result of washing political dirty laundry? : PARTY LINT. Party line.
118A. Course that covers crop circles? : PLANT GEOMETRY. Plane geometry.
Did you grok the gimmick immediately? The puzzle title is quite literal.
I think this is Frank Virzi's first Sunday. Congratulations! The grid has 93 theme squares, but only 138 words & 66 black squares. More often our Sunday grids have 142 or 144 words. Every extra word/black squar is a luxury on Sundays.
I think this is Frank Virzi's first Sunday. Congratulations! The grid has 93 theme squares, but only 138 words & 66 black squares. More often our Sunday grids have 142 or 144 words. Every extra word/black squar is a luxury on Sundays.
Across:
1. Final approvals : SAY-SOS
7. Had to repay for : OWED ON
13. Come into : INHERIT. This is similar to my mom's wedding chest. Hers had pretty bed sheets and quilts she and her mom made.
20. Total : AMOUNT
21. Bread for burritos? : DINERO. Clever clue.
22. Break, as laws : VIOLATE
25. Lee of poetry : ANNABEL. Poe's Annabel Lee.
26. Altar boy : ACOLYTE
27. Broke the tape : WON
28. Language of southern China : CANTONESE. Spoken in Guangdong province & Hong Kong & Macau area.
30. Vegas tip : TOKE
31. Angle iron : L-BAR
33. Cold response : SHIVER. What's your room temperature in the summer? Ours is 74.
38. Malachite and magnetite : MINERALS
43. Shoves off : SETS SAIL
46. "Swans Reflecting Elephants" artist : DALI
48. Dredge, say : DEEPEN
49. Guiding principles : CREEDS
54. Super Bowl XXXIV champs : RAMS. Wish they would stop using Roman numerals.
55. "With a Little Help From My Friends" singer : STARR (Ringo)
57. Utah lily : SEGO
58. Rock follower? : ETTE. Rockette.
59. Molecule that carries energy: Abbr. : ATP (Adenosine triphosphate). Total stranger to me.
60. "Go, team!" : RAH
61. Not to mention : AND
63. Cub Scout leader : AKELA
74. One-celled critter : AMEBA. Amoeba is more common.
75. Rock producer Brian : ENO
76. Temperamental TV pooch : REN Ren and Stimpy.
77. Water, chemically : HOH
78. Old orchard spray : ALAR
81. Gp. led by a Grand Exalted Ruler : BPOE. Gimme for Abejo.
84. Part of a flight : STAIR
86. Scared, maybe : PALE
91. Cry of triumph : I DID IT!
93. Yogurt flavor : BANANA
94. Dutch astronomer who lent his name to a cloud : OORT. Gimme!
95. South American border lake : TITICACA. Peru/Bolivia border lake.
97. Valentine figure : AMORETTO. The plural is Amoretti.
102. They're stuck in corners : STAMPS. I like this clue also.
104. Flying A rival : ESSO. Never saw a Flying A sign.
105. "Breaking __ Hard to Do" : UP IS
109. "0 calories. 0 carbs" drink : DIET PEPSI. They have big presence in China.
113. Prompt : CUE
114. Tramp : VAGRANT
117. Trap : ENSNARE
121. More puffed up : PROUDER
122. Way out : EGRESS
123. Harvey of "The Piano" : KEITEL. With Holly Hunter. I liked the movie.
124. Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, e.g. : SISTERS
125. Exodus challenge : RED SEA
126. Eventually : IN TIME
Down:
1. 1978 Peace co-Nobelist : SADAT. Still waiting for el-Sisi.
2. Big name in gas : AMOCO
3. Concerned query : YOU OK?
4. Some rental agreements : SUB-LEASES
5. Just : ONLY
6. "Let it be" : STET
7. Prefix with meter : ODO
8. Nipmuc home : WIGWAM. Never heard of Nipmuc. Looks so crude.
9. "Bewitched" witch : ENDORA
10. Faculty boss : DEAN
11. There's a statue of him outside TD Garden : ORR.
12. V-shaped slit : NOTCH
13. Russian infant emperor, 1740-'41 : IVAN VI.
Here is what Wiki says: "... although he never actually reigned. Within
less than a year, he was overthrown by the Empress Elizabeth of Russia,
Peter I's daughter. Ivan spent the rest of his life as a prisoner and
was killed by his guards during an attempt made to free him."
14. Video game giant : NINTENDO
15. They may be roasted : HONOREES
16. Panache : ELAN
17. Broccoli __ : RABE. Not sure our local Cub carries this veggie. Very soon I'm going to enjoy the local water spinach the Hmong farmers here grow.
18. Ending for residents : ITEs. Like Brooklynites.
19. TV segment? : TELE
24. Yamuna River city : DELHI
29. Drawing a bead on : AIMING AT
32. Light wood : BALSA
33. ESPN figures : STATS
35. Dr. Leary's turn-on : LSD
36. Bible reading : PASSAGE
37. CEO, e.g. : LDR (Leader)
39. Formally end : REPEAL
40. Give __ on the back : A PAT
41. Univ. staff title : LECT. Oh, lecturer.
42. Bygone blade : SNEE
43. One who's all skin and bones : SCRAG
44. Pindar's Muse : ERATO
45. Tantalize : TEMPT
47. One in a pack? : LIE. Excellent clue also.
51. Cafeteria carrier : TRAY
52. River of Florence : ARNO
53. Michener's "The Bridges at __" : TOKO-RI. Also unknown to me. I probably should see it just for Grace Kelly. I love her in To Catch a Thief.
56. English channel : THE BBC
60. CD-__ : ROM
62. Bill word : DUE
64. Some retired faculty : EMERITI
65. Reagan adviser Nofziger : LYN. Another unknown. I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to pre-2001 US politics.
67. Sauce with sole : TARTAR
68. Brew servers : TAP ROOMS
69. Dirty Harry's rank: Abbr. : INSP
70. "Don't look at me!" : NOT I
71. "If __ Hammer" : I HAD A
72. Type of acid found in Brussels sprouts : FOLIC. Hard to make Brussels sprouts tasty.
73. Letter after eta : THETA
78. "SOS" singers : ABBA
79. Good earth : LOAM
80. "It will come __ surprise ..." : AS NO
82. War on Poverty org. : OEO. OK, Office of Economic Opportunity. LBJ.
83. O.K. Corral brothers : EARPS
85. Justice Dept. staffers : ATTYS
86. "Just think" : PICTURE IT
88. Bridge opening : ONE SPADE. Same letter count as ONE HEART.
89. One going on and on : NATTERER
90. L.A. bus-and-rail org. : MTA
92. Cacophony : DIN
96. "__ a Rainy Night": 1981 chart-topper : I LOVE
98. Slim candles : TAPERS
100. Catches up with old classmates : REUNES. Only in crosswords.
101. African insect attracted to the color blue : TSETSE
103. Pepper picker : PIPER
106. Page of music : PATTI
107. Against a thing, to a judge : IN REM
108. Panache : STYLE
109. ATM transactions : DEPS (Deposits)
110. Cross inscription : INRI
111. Those caballeros : ESOS. Caballeros sound like hot peppers.
112. Hardware item : T-NUT
113. Pick in a trick : CARD
115. Golfer Isao : AOKI. Don't google. Guess how tall he is.
116. FBI agents : G-MEN
119. Soft drink ord. : LGE
120. Govt. property org. : GSA (General Services Administration)
C.C.
Maybe you'll find today's Cryptic clue a tad easier?
ReplyDeleteTramples rubber devices (6)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A catchphrase is "E.T. phone home"
Though the charges are high when you roam.
A simple request,
An alien's behest,
A favor for a favorite gnome.
An interesting Sunday with quite a bit unknown for me. OORT might be a gimme for C.C. but not me and IVAN VI was not in my memory banks. But like most Sunday's perseverance paid off.
ReplyDeleteC.C. I made roasted Brussels Sprouts, drizzled in oil with garlic and black pepper and we all enjoyed them
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteThis was the slowest Sunday solve I can remember. I did finally manage to finish unassisted, but there was a lot of choppy water along the way.
I grokked the theme early on, but it didn't help much. With AL in place at 34, I immediately went with ALE and that just messed me up completely for a long time. Also, I'm completely unfamiliar with "Got to get you into my life" which made things tough in the center.
Elsewhere, I thought AMORETTO was a type of drink, so I resisted putting it into 97A. I guess I was thinking of AMARETTO. TOKORI was a complete unknown. I honestly couldn't bring myself to accept that LECT was a thing even after getting all the perps, so I hesitated a lot there.
On the bright side, I did know OORT right off the bat...
CC: Double dog are is a very old expression it comes between the double dare and the triple dare. the final level would be the triple dog dare in which the dareree would be forced to do the dare or lose face in front of his friends the period piece movie "A Christmas Story" has the triple dog dare as one of its scenes.
ReplyDeleteVery enjoyable with a clever theme. The first theme answer I got was the last (PLANT GEOMETRY) and I was slowed down by a few incorrect WAGs (e.g. EPISTLE and TANKARDS way before PASSAGE and TAPROOMS). I'm always expecting a typo hunt on Sundays so I was surprised to hear the "TaDa!" when I filled in the last letter.
ReplyDelete[31:33]
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one took longer than usual, even though I got the theme early on. My biggest slowdowns were OWED TO/ON and TEASE/TEMPT.
I did not know that Tsetse's were attracted to blue. Guess one shouldn't wear jeans in Africa.
AMOCO is a bygone name. It was "swallered" up by BP. Never heard of Flying A, but we have Flying J stations around here -- always with a Denny's inside.
I don't think of the ATM for DEPS. In my case the money always goes the other way. My DEPS are direct.
For some reason I was sure those thin candles were TAPIRS. Google says no. The picture looks more like Gregory Peccary.
CSO to Husker with REUNES, since he went to one this past week. I attended a class reunion once, back in '78 I think. There were lots of old folks there.
C.C., 74 would be too cold -- the A/C would never shut off. I try to keep it at 78, but DW always sneaks it down to 76. She doesn't pay the electric bill.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteI did the wrong puzzle.
I forgot that the LAT substitutes puzzles on Sundays. So I did a big, tricky Merl Reagle on their site. It certainly didn't match C.C.'s write-up. Darn!
Great puzzle with a neat theme, but it took a very long time to solve, even though I caught on to the theme early on. The only totally unknown was OORT, but the others did not come readily to mind.
ReplyDeleteI remember Flying A gasoline. Its sign had an A with wings.
My last section to fill was the center north with OWED ON and DINERO. I had WIGWAM early on and eventually DOG DARE. Finally ENDORA allowed me to finish.I just couldn't dredge it up.
I like to read about the old pioneer days, including our interactions with the Native Americans. Although the English, and later the Americans, found the native habitations to be crude and uncomfortable, the American Indians found houses to be uncomfortable. When they were guests often they would go outdoors to sleep after the family went to bed.
Musings (after REUNING last weekend)
ReplyDelete-STARTING INTO SPACE elicited a big laugh here from a NASA guy who is old enough to remember the early days with Sputnik, etc.
-If friends with modest incomes suddenly build a $400,000 house, it makes you wonder what they just INHERITED
-Someone did VIOLATE the no fireworks after midnight July 4 law last night
-77°F here. MIL’s is 80°F
-Lovely SETTING SAIL song w/lyrics (4:27) by a cwd stalwart
-You can DREDGE sand and gravel in any direction from our town
-At the end of The Jersey Boys movie, bass player and singer Nick Massi laughs and says, “I know Frankie and Bob (Gaudio) were the real talents and I was just Ringo STARR”
-No Super Bowl Roman Numerals in 2015
-How much flexibility does it take to be a ROCKETTE?
-AKE(E)LA(H) And The Bee (2:42) is a wonderful movie we showed our kids about overcoming obstacles (I DID IT!)
-USPS is going broke for lack of STAMP sales
-DIET PEPSI?
-I may not know DALI but I’m all over ENDORA from schlock TV
-The disgusting Yamuna River
-It will come AS NO surprise that kid don’t like what the gov’t wants put on their TRAYS
-A wonderfully illustrative story featuring “NOT I”
-What comedian starred in the 1948 movie PALEface?
HG,
ReplyDeleteI believe the answer is Bob Hope.
Nipmuc are Indians in Massachusetts. We lived in Upton for a short time and they were mentioned in many titles there.
ReplyDelete"The Bridges of Toko Ri" was an excellent movie and you will not forget it once you see it.
Grace Kelly/William Holden and Mickey Rooney.
Have a great day. It is just beautiful in CT now that Arthur has left!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAnother DNF. I got the theme early on and breezed through most of the puzzle but shot myself in the foot with Emerita ( Had Misty and Ferm on my mind). Had party rank for 99A and pick up_ _ _ for 86D. Couldn't get I Love or vagrant to save my soul. In other words, that entire section was one big mess!
Problems aside, the theme was cute and so was a lot of the cluing, as CC pointed out in her spot-on expo. Thanks, Mr. Virzi for a Sunday stumper, at least to me.
Speaking of Ringo, Paul McCartney kicked off his US tour last night at a venue in Albany. Haven't read the reviews yet but I'm sure his fans were pleased.
Bill G. - How is that man who was bitten by the shark?
YR - That's good new about Alan. I hope things continue in a positive way.
DO - My A/C is set at 72 and it doesn't run constantly. In fact, it isn't running right now. I don't pay the electric bill, either-my bank does automatically! :-)
Have a great day, everyone.
Husker, just guessin', but I'd go with Bob Hope for Paleface.
ReplyDeleteHere's an apt quote of the day for the cornerites: Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, "It depends." And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is. -Kenneth G. Wilson, author and professor (1923-2003)
Hi Y'all! This puzzle was amusing but not easy. Thanks, Frank. Great as always, C.C.!
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Yamuna River, OORT, ATP, NIPMUC, or AMORETTO as something other than a drink.
Don't know what a CREAM PIT would be in BOSTON or elsewhere. Doesn't sound sanitary. I WAG'd it knowing the theme.
SCRAG? I've heard of SCRAGgly, but...
I immediately tried TOKORI and wondered how I got that. I didn't see the movie.
My thermostat is set at 74* or 75* if the thing won't stop running and I am cold. I think the thermometer is screwed up because of the hot water heater on the other side of the wall.
PK, To me most of the theme answers make sense on a wacky sort of way, but Boston cream pit is just plain weird.
ReplyDeleteAfter riding my bike for 10 miles this morning and watching Federer and Djokovic spilt the first two sets in the Finals, I started to work on the puzzle and watch at the same time. The Bridges at Madison County, maybe? but TOKORI? never heard of it. Along with TOKE INREM OEO KEITEL . The theme was easy to get, since it was listed as E.T. Trading in the paper. I see Mr. Virzi included Ringo, Rabbit, and Sedaka. The PERPS and WAGS came in handy with DALI BPOE ANNABEL ACOLYTE OORT ESSO (Is Flying A a gasoline in other countries?)LECTurer (never seen that abbreviation) MTA OEO ESOS. The puzzle was solvable until my last cross of TOKORI AND AKELA.
ReplyDeleteNovak is up 3-2 in the fifth set. Gotta go.
Hello, weekenders!
ReplyDeleteNot much time to comment at the moment. Although I grokked the theme it was of limited help and there were far too many short, 3 letter abbrvs. for me to enjoy it. I finally left a few blank cells at OEO/OORT and RAMS, etc. I can't keep those teams in mind.
Other fill, like AKELA, TITICACA, BPOE, EGRESS, KEITEL, etc., fell easily and I managed most of the grid. Lengthy words appeal to me much better.
CSO to Misty at EMERITI. I hope that's right. Sometimes I confuse Misty and Mari. If it's not, I apologize.
Have a delightful Sunday, everyone! HHH (Hot, humid and Hot)here today.
This was a more difficult than usual Sunday puzzle, IMHO, but it was ultimately doable.
ReplyDeleteThe cross of OORT and OEO was a WAG.
Hello everybody. This puzzle took me longer than usual. It seemed more inconsistent than the typical offering from Rich. Anyway, I enjoyed it. Thanks Frank and Rich and CC.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, yep, Manhattan Beach has been in the news a couple of times today. The guy who was bitten by a shark is mostly OK the last I heard. I've been out on that iconic pier often.
Also, did you watch Sunday Morning on CBS today? They featured a story about Louis Zamperini who just died. They showed him giving a talk in Manhattan Beach. I think I was there that day though it may have occurred more than once.
We don't have A/C. The temperature downstairs will be close to 80. It will be a few degrees warmer upstairs.
As to "BostonCreamPit" the clue "natural source" tells you why the "pit." You need to know the the answer to the old question "how do you know the cherry pie is for real?" is "because it has pits in in it"
ReplyDeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks for swell puzzle, Frank, and cool expo, CC! Liked the theme. Occurred to me what it meant, so that BOSTON CREAM PIT was immediate.
However, it did take quite a while. Natick at OORT and OEO.
Cheers!
Oops. I'm sorry, ferm, I forgot it's you and Misty who are EMERITI or should that be EMERITAE for feminine?
ReplyDeleteHello everybody. Been enjoying all the puzzles and your comments these past few weeks. Haven't posted because nothing to add. Also, found a hobby at last, so have been spending mucho tiempo on it.
ReplyDeleteTemperature inside our house is usually close to the temperature outside, except when it's cooler than 68, in which case our furnace fires up. When it gets hotter than about 85 out, we close the windows and drapes to help keep it cooler inside.
Been saturating ourselves on World Cup futbol lately. We both like the sport; LW used to play it, and then coached it for quite a few years.
I'm guessing Isao Aoki is very tall, maybe 6'2"?
Best wishes to you all.
So Jayce, what's this hobby?
ReplyDeleteBill G, it's a pretty sedentary hobby. I've always enjoyed programming in assembly language, and I have been intrigued by the extensive line of small microprocessors by a company called Atmel for several years, so I am learning about them and have been acquiring a variety of hardware and software tools so I can "play" with some of them. I am already thinking up uses for them in future designs of our earthquake monitoring systems to make them "smarter." If nothing else, it's fun for me and keeps me occupied, which is what a hobby is all about anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 3:13: I have no idea what you mean. What would cherry pits have to do with CREAM? What a pitiful thing to say.
ReplyDeleteBill G - Ni, I didn't watch Sunday Morning but I have seen several clips of LZ's interviews with Tom Brokaw and others. He was quite a man.
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you, Jace. Enjoy your new hobby but drop in once in awhile to bring us up to date.
I used to enjoy programming on a much lower level; in Basic on an Apple 2+. I actually wrote some clever programs that I was/am pretty proud of. One was a little word processing program for Barbara's elementary school progress reports. She would enter a student's name and the gender. She would then select from a table of comments. The computer would print out those comments inserting the appropriate name and pronouns as needed. It worked really well. I have no memory of how I did any of it these days.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Irish Miss. Will do.
ReplyDeleteBill G, very cool. Fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteMe too on BASIC Bill. My program was a data checker for labs
ReplyDelete1. Student delineated what data he was checking and then entered his number
2. Program compared input data with programmed tolerances
3. Program returned
a. You are absolutely correct
b. You are within 5%
c. You are too high
d. You are too low
4. The machine then cleared and waited for the next input
What a time saver when I couldn’t get to every group. Plus it kept kids on task with usable data.
My thermostat is set to "off" and the air conditioner is set to "windows open."
ReplyDeleteFun crossword, but I haven't had time to post until now. We went to a concert at Tanglewood today - it could not have been more perfect weather. And the conductor (Asher Fisch) was amazing.
So I guess, WEES!!