17A. Par, for stock : FACE VALUE. Funny Face. Most gargoyles don't look particularly funny - this one is pretty cute though.
25A. Delicate tableware : BONE CHINA. Funny Bone. I haven't banged mine for quite some time - it seemed as a kid I was always doing it
39A. Same old same old : BUSINESS AS USUAL. Funny Business
51A. Special effects scene in a summer blockbuster, say : MONEY SHOT. Funny Money. I read recently that they had to re-shoot the "blowing the bridge" scene from "Bridge on the River Kwai" because a cameraman couldn't get out of the way of the train in time. I'm guessing that they managed to "CUT!" before they hit the detonator.
64A. Slogan for TV channel TBS, and a hint to the first word of 17-, 25-, 39- and 51-Across : VERY FUNNY. I have it, but never watch it.
A C.C. Wednesday, so here's a great middle of the week. Tight theme and always great fill and a couple of long downs. I've got a minor snit about the cluing of 39A but I'll leave that to the comments. A couple of unknowns for me, but that's what solid crosses are for and what she does so well. Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. City with a Viking Ship Museum : OSLO. This should get you off to a good start.
5. Booking agents? : COPS. Nice!
9. Boardroom graphic : CHART. Could a bakery menu be called a pie chart?
14. Goof up : FLUB
15. Cheerful tune : LILT
16. "Thus with a kiss I die" speaker : ROMEO
19. "No thanks" : I PASS
20. Spend an evening at home : STAY IN. And listening to Stayin' Alive, per the Bee Gees.
21. Spam holders : TINS. Not email inboxes?
23. Minor facial spasm, say : TIC
24. Wanna-__: poseurs : BES
27. Friendly : CORDIAL
30. Rival of Peyton : TOM. I put "TIM" first, and was wondering how Mr. Tebow could be descibed a rival of Peyton Manning, then sanity prevailed and I realized we were looking for Tom Brady, of the New England Patriots.
31. A, in Assisi : UNA. Italian, and a gimme for Marti.
32. Best : ONE-UP
35. Workplace protection agcy. : OSHA
43. Craigslist caveat : AS IS. Probably means it's all banged up or it doesn't work. My favorite CL ad is here - mild profanity warning.
44. University of Alabama head coach Nick : SABAN. Famously buttoned-up. Once described as "..rolling into the house wearing Armani and looking like he'd been dipped in lip-gloss" during one visit to the home of a prospect.
45. Tear : RIP
46. Some commuter lines : ELS
49. Web designers : SPIDERS
56. Silent __: Coolidge nickname : CAL. I typo'd "CAT" on the run across and had to fix it when I ran into 36D. No harm, no foul. "Cat" Coolidge though? I wonder if he played the sax.
57. Year in Mexico : ANO
58. Bring in : REAP
59. Many a marathon winner since the '90s : KENYAN. You're not kidding - in the 25 times the Men's Boston Marathon has been run since 1990, a Kenyan has won it 19 times.
62. Talmud scholar : RABBI
66. Pastel shade : LILAC
67. Word-of-mouth : ORAL
68. Beethoven's birth city : BONN
69. Spheres : AREAS
70. Pound enclosure : CAGE. Oh - Dog Pound! [penny drops]
71. Online crafts store : ETSY. Didn't have a clue on this one - crosses to the rescue.
Down:
1. Does in : OFFS
2. Blind piece : SLAT. As in Venetian blinds.
3. "The Godfather" hatchet man : LUCA BRASI. Victim of being OFFED. He ended up "sleeping with the fishes".
4. Did as directed : OBEYED
5. Tartan-wearing group : CLAN. Men in plaid skirts can be pretty scary.
6. Canola __ : OIL
7. Demoted planet : PLUTO. The demotion seemed a shame. It's not like it had been doing anything differently since it was discovered, just orbiting the sun once every now and then and whistling "Dixie".
8. Stout holder : STEIN
9. Shortening brand since 1911 : CRISCO
10. Short flight : HOP
11. Vintage violin : AMATI. Let's listen to one.
12. Pine secretion : RESIN
13. Puccini classic : TOSCA. More Puccini to come shortly.
18. Asset of successful entrepreneurs : VISION
22. Monarch catcher : NET
25. Hallow : BLESS. Interesting - I knew the term "hallowed ground" but it never crossed my mind that there was a verb form. Nice learning moment.
26. Med. plan choices : HMOS. Heath Maintenance Organizations. Like you didn't know.
27. Largest Caribbean island : CUBA
28. Burden : ONUS
29. "Wheel of Fortune" request : AN 'E'
33. Solheim Cup team : USA. The women's biennial golf challenge tournament between the USA and Europe. The men's version, the Ryder Cup, begins on September 23rd.
34. Brew brand with a ribbon logo : PABST
36. Formal "Uh-uh!" : SURELY NOT. I like that finally I know "Uh-Huh!" means "Of course, you knucklehead" and "Uh-uh" means "Are you kidding me?" Tough language to learn, this 'Murican.
37. Kojak's lack : HAIR
38. Lake Geneva backdrop : ALPS
40. ''Got it" : I SEE
41. Gullible one : SAP
42. Intl. relief agency since 1946 : UNICEF. An acronym from the original name - United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. A number of soccer teams around the world, notably F.C. Barcelona in Spain have a "reverse sponsorship" agreement with the agency where the club donates 1.5M Euros annually to display the Unicef logo on their shirts.
 |
| Lionel Messi, Unicef Global Goodwill Ambassador |
48. Spokane-to-Boise dir. : SSE
50. Vienna's river : DANUBE
51. "A League of Their Own" infielder __ Hooch : MARLA. Did not know. Thank you, crosses!
52. Studio alert : ON AIR
53. Duke or earl : NOBLE
54. Utter chaos : HAVOC. Cry "Havoc" and let loose the dogs of war!" Shakespeare had a way with words, you have to admit.
55. Puccini work : OPERA. Two Puccini's today.
59. Stan's pal on "South Park" : KYLE. You pretty much either love this show or hate it. I'm in the former camp.
60. Landers and Richards : ANNS
61. Part of a SoHo address : NY NY. Unless you're in London, then it would be "City of Westminster, W1". Doesn't fit too well into a crossword grid though.
63. Petting zoo cry : BAA. Not "Ouch" when you get bitten by the goat?
65. Dust collector : RAG. Home exercise bikes and treadmills also fall into this category.
That's it from me - I'm hitting the road this week for a couple of quick trips - Las Vegas and Dearborn, MI. Try to keep safe in the weird weather.
Steve
45 comments:
Congratulations C.C. for another fine puzzle. I don't watch much TV these days, and first thought the puzzle might be about the DRAMA cable network ... but I must admit that FUNNY was much more uplifting.
As an OPERA buff, it was fun (and funny) to see the same clue used both for the general art form, and for a specific one, TOSCA. I'm not going to give chapter and verse now, but that Puccini opera is famous for a number of mishaps that allegedly happened during live performances. At the end of the opera, the title soprano is supposed to jump to her death from the parapet. A timid soprano asked for something to be arranged behind the stage to provide a soft landing. One of the crew installed a trampoline, the heroine jumped, and then much to the surprise and amusement of the audience, reappeared seconds later above the horizon. Now that's laugh-out-loud FUNNY!
Morning, all!
Another mostly smooth puzzle with a couple of zingers at the end (in this case MARLA and SABAN). I saw the byline and kept waiting for all the baseball clues/answers... ^_^
"Michael. Who is that man over there who keeps talking to himself?" That's LUCA BRASI. Well I knew the answer to 3D but I had zero idea how it was spelled until I got it through the perps. A nice easy BUSINESS AS USUAL Wednesday puzzle with only three unknowns, ETSY KYLE MARLA.
Nick SABAN: considered a traitor in this state, but money talks and he thought he could win in the pros.
This world is full of Wanna BES. Politicians, actors, singers, people who constantly post on Facebook and Twitter, people who write comments on blogs, uh oh- I had better to get out of here.
Have a nice day everybody.
I give up what is the snit over 39A?
Good morning!
As usual, I completed the puzzle without knowing the theme. Had one Natick at the crossing of UNA and BRASI. Thought it might have been an O, but wagged an A. I figured this Peyton guy was s0me character in a book I hadn't read. Close.
I remember as a kid we had two "Trick or Treat" nights -- one for candy and the other for UNICEF.
I thought it was "... let slip the dogs of war." On second thought, that doesn't make much sense. Slip where?
Back to the dentist today for some minor repair work. If I was Chinese, this would have to be the year of the tooth.
Where did I GOOF UP? By having the F and writing in FAIL.
Thanks, CC and Steve for a good morning!
I was able to finish this puzzle in record Wednesday time, working across and down at the same time (except to fix FAIL to FLUB!) I don’t turn on red-letter help until Thursday.
It’s 38° and supposed to get UP to 46° today. Woohoo!! Rain, with snow still in the forecast. Plenty of snow west of me. I’ll take my weather compared to what folks in the south or middle of the country are getting, though. Many, many crops ruined in my state, but there is always next year.
Desper-otto, I had forgotten about the second night collecting for UNICEF. We used to do that too.
Have a safe day, everyone,
Montana
C. C.: A really nice puzzle for a Wednesday. Just enough head scratching and a few new unknowns.
I remember the "A League of Their Own" movie but wasn't sure if Hooch's name was Carla or Marla. Perps filled it in. The best line in the movie has got to be "there's no crying in baseball." I think Tom Hanks is one of those actors who has a wide range and can play many different roles and not be typecast. Some actors can only play themselves in whatever role they are in.
Have a great day everyone.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Got through this pretty quickly until I got to a lot of the names. I am not into movies and TV very much.
I missed on MARLA, had MARLO. Spheres I was thinking of balls or orbs. I thought perhaps OREAS was some variation of that I had not heard of. Therefore, I missed.
For 65D, I started with BIN. Then went to CAN. Then went to BAG. Then finished with RAG. Phew! Big inkblot, but got it.
Took me a while to drag up UNICEF, but KENYAN helped. Those guys sure can run.
BONN was a wag after a couple letters.
PABST was the easiest in the puzzle.
Raining here today.
See you tomorrow from Philadelphia.
Abejo
(4282)
I'm with Abejo; didn't know Marla ( BUSINESS AS USUAL :-); a baseball-themed clue from C.C.). I filled in Marly, figuring that sounded baseball-ish, but YREAS didn't look quite right. Darn. A mid-week DNF.
Thanks, George B, for that opera story. It gave me my first good laugh of the day! Which I need before I head out to the garden to REAP the last of my veggies. We may get frost or snow tonight. Brr.
This was a pretty easy Wednesday offering. Thanks, C.C.! Great review, Steve. I didn't look for the theme until you pointed it out.
I used CRISCO on Monday when I made Gingersnaps for DH to take to his dad this week.
At our animal shelter, cats are in rooms, maybe 10 to a room. At night they are put in CAGES. The dogs have individual runs with outside access--no CAGES!
I am going to help install a MONARCH butterfly garden at the shelter. They have lost a lot of habitat and need it replenished. The website "Monarch Watch" has a list of plants to put in the garden and then you can register yours.
boo luquette-- Thanks for the sign-offs in French. It gives me a little bit of practice and I see I haven't forgotten everything I learned years ago.
Have a nice Wednesday.
Pat
Good Morning:
Another gem from our own C(ommander) In C(hief). There was some slow going in the SW as I didn't know Marla and had royal before noble, but perps came to the rescue and I got my TADA!
Nice work, CC, and spot-on expo, as usual, Steve.
Another beautiful day but rain is on the way for tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Good morning CC & All
We still have record heat/no water down here at the SW corner, with no end in sight.
Nice Wednesday job. Like others, I braced myself for the onslaught of CC BB clues, but the perps prevailed.
My first mistake began with 1A, where I confidently wrote in YORK (NC's Ph.D. Alma Mater), which has a magnificent Viking SOCK as one its main attractions. I did not recover the NW until I got the theme, and FACE value left me with Y-FS?
FYI, LIONEL MESSI (Barcelona) is one of the two best-paid soccer player in the world (the other is Christiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid) , grossing ~$50 million a year in salary and ~$20 million in endorsements. So his personal tax bill dwarfs the amount that FC BARCELONA shells out to UNICEF.
My loss of YORK was made up for by the Brit-connection for SPAM containers - TINS vis-Ã -vis CANS. Monty Python lives!
As a mathematician, I was bemused by 69A: SPHERES => AREAS. The answer is perfectly OK in standard speech, but the reduction in dimensionality - from 3D to 2D - invoked that flat-world image.
NC
MONEY SHOT
blowing the bridge
(snicker)
P.S. The district of Soho in London dates to at least the early 1600s. So-ho! was to rabbit-hunting what Tally-ho! was to fox-hunting - victim sighted! FYI, the latter is now banned in the U.K.
Whether any real rabbits were ever hunted there debatable. Soho is and was the major red-light district of London, probably at least as far back as the 1600s. So when a NOBLE told his wife he was going out for a spot of rabbit-hunting, the rabbit in question may not have had 4 legs.
New York's SoHo (note capitalization) is of course an acronym for South of Houston Street, coined in the 1960s.
NC
Good morning all.
What a smooth and fun Wednesday puzzle.
I liked seeing LUCA BRASI and OFFS so close together; however, like Big Easy, I wasn't sure how to spell LUCA BRASI right off the bat, even though I have seen The Godfather a hundred times.
I liked the misdirection of SPIDERS for "Web designers."
I am also not sure about the snit with the clueing of 39A. Maybe because "Same old same old" does not have inherent commercial connotations? Regardless, I personally had no problem with it.
IF you are going to Dearborn and you like hamburgers. Go to Millers bar! =)
P.P.S.
Whether the etymological origin of London's Soho is directly linked to Bunny Girls, etc,; or independently backformed from the noted proliferative propensity of rabbits, may also be conjectured.
NC
A Wednesday C.C. puzzle! Wonderful, and this one was a delight. I especially liked the grid-spanner, BUSINESS AS USUAL. Many thanks, C.C. and you too, Steve, for the always helpful expo.
Lots of unknowns for me, with all those sports items, and I didn't know LUCA BRASI, but the surroundings filled everything in and that's what makes a puzzle great, to my mind.
Pat, thanks for your comments on MONARCH butterflies. They're apparently having a hard time surviving and so our former park manager encouraged us all to plant milkweed this summer to attract them and help them breed. It has been an absolute delight to have these lovely orange and black flitters cruising our patio all summer.
Have a great day, everybody!
I think perhaps 69A doesn't refer to mathematics. SPHERE of expertise or influence is AREA of expertise or influence.
ANON @ 10:46, I've been expecting someone to bring up the DF connotation.
I made vichyssoise this morning. After washing the leaks between the leaves, it took three rinses to flush away all the sand. We like this soup best cold. I made enough for tomorrow, too, as it is even better the next day.
OOPS! I meant LEEKS. I am also dealing with LEAKS. The plumber is here again.
GB, funny story about the opera.
I mentioned yesterday I was having problems with changes to my local paper The Newark Star Ledger, but this is ridiculous!
Note what they changed the constructor to....
Greetings, friends.
It's always fun to anticipate what's in a C.C. puzzle. Lots of guessing for me, TOM could have been any name but it emerged as did SABAN. However, I couldn't recall LUCA BRASI so a DNF there and had a fit with MARLA until I used the theme and FUNNY MONEY dawned on me.
Thank you, C.C. and Steve for your always witty review. I loved looking at John Travolta!
Since the storm this weekend my landline has not been functioning so at 3 today a repair person will be here. Always something.
Have a happy day, everyone!
Eventually finished but for a long time the issue was in doubt.
Now I know what an ETSY is. Thank you Wikipedia.
Steve: Nice write-up ... though I don't understand your nit about 39-A.
BUSINESS-AS-USUAL is the mantra of 'Same-old, same-old.'
C.C. Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle.
Only needed ESP to get MARLA, KYLE and ETSY (I "Wiki-ed" it also Ergo).
Fave today, of course, was pouring some PABST into that STEIN above it.
Cheers!!!
PS Lucina, I saw where your record rainfall was 3.29 inches inches for Phoenix. (Or was that 3.69???)
Geez, we had over 4.0 inches here at Villa Incognito yesterday ... just another summer shower.
I hope you are "high-and-dry".
Should 61 Across - Spheres , have had a ? mark, to show that a pun was intended ? Or was it not a pun ?
This is a post on a Math Riddle that was put by Bill G., yesterday. If the Math problem is not of your interest, please pass on by to the next post.
Bill G., regarding the Pete and Fred driving puzzle, yesterday - your final assumption of 3xD = D + 40 - takes a leap of faith. I don't understand it and thus I don't believe it.
I wish you had explained in the normal algebraic method. While the numbers seem to match - Pete goes at 60 mph. and Fred at 80 mph. and the total distance is 140 miles - the fact is that you offer only two equations for 3 unknowns. X - Pete's speed, Y- Fred's speed and D the total distance.
The 2 equations are
Time for first meet 60 / X = (D-60 ) / Y
Time for second meet D+40 / X = ( D + D-40 )/ Y
2 equations are not theoretically enough to solve 3 variables.
What if each speed was twice that of the answers and the total distance was twice of 140 ?
No question mark needed, Novice.
To quote Yellowrocks:
"SPHERE of expertise or influence is AREA of expertise or influence."
Riddle Solver@12:44 -- The question wasn't how fast they were going, but the distance between the two cities. When they first meet, driver P has gone 60 miles and driver F has driven the balance of distance D. When they reach the opposite city, both have driven D miles (we're at 2D now), they turn toward the original city, and when they meet they've completed the full distance one more time (we're at 3D). During the first D driver P completed 60 miles, so when they have together completed 3D, driver P will have driven 180 miles. Since the "given" is that he's gone 40 miles beyond Flagstaff, the distance D must be 140 miles. If you were to double the speeds, they'dl complete the total distance in half the time, but D will remain constant at 140.
I just googled the driving distance between Phoenix and Flagstaff.
Per Google the distance is 144 miles or 232 km
The most amazing thing was Bill G. actually answered one of his math problems here.
Tinbeni:
Yes, it was a record rainfall for one day, 3.29 inches and remember this is the desert where annual rainfall is slightly more than 7 inches per year.
Ergo, you have lush green vegetation surrounding you and we have cactus, succulents and lots of dirt! Also, no humidity to speak of during the season of high heat.
This was a fun and easy Wednesday puzzle, although there were a few answers solved by perps: SABAN, ETSY, and MARLA. I knew 3D was LUCA BRASI, but I didn't know how to spell BRASI. That was another perp solve.
GB - Your opera story was really FUNNY.
There is a connection between Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow.
Tebow was the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos in 2011. He was traded to the NY Jets and the end of the season because the Broncos signed Peyton.
Hello Puzzlers -
Nary a speed bump this time. Of course I didn't know the well dressed coach's name, but it was well perped.
Etsy was familiar since I have one or two friends with Etsy shops of their own, selling all sorts of hand crafted items. At one time there was a very funny website called Regretsy where you could publicly air your gripes (or embarrassment) if you had been dissatisfied with a purchase from an Etsy artist. There were some ghastly items displayed there! Last I looked, the site had folded.
Excellent puzzle! But FIW. Had UNO and BROSI, and SOP and SABON. The perps made me correct UNESCO to UNICEF. Cheers.
59a Kenyan's running so well is why Obama could win the run for the Presidency. (Just a joke about where his father came from, no politics implied!)
7d demoted planet could have also been CERES.
65d my vacuum cleaner is a dust catcher. It's been sitting in that corner gathering dust for months!
BillG.: the second posting down (as I write this), with the photo of a cat, is for you.
Greetings!
Thanks, CC and Steve! Great work!
Had to perp SABAN, TOM, ETSY and MARLA. But no cheats.
Finally got a decent sleep (10 hours). (Fibromyalgia.)
Enjoy all of your posts!
Cheers!
Musings
-Are men or women more likely to say something and you can take it at FACE VALUE?
-For every show TBS says is “VERY FUNNY”, trust me, they are not. I PASS.
-CHARTS always beat the recitation of numbers
-This CHART shows info lost faster than numbers
-In the LILT of Irish laughter…
-WANNA BES
-Every group has someone who has to “ONE-UP” you with a better story
-At my 50th reunion this year, I learned my childhood friend is now the pilot of SABAN’s recruiting jet. Nick has been very good to him.
-My daughter would take every cat in every CAGE at the pound
-SLATS Marion was called the best SS of his time
-Good coffee mug for my DW using a word from the puzzle
-Famous use of Hallow as a verb – “We cannot HALLOW, we cannot consecrate this ground”
-Did you trick-or-treat for UNICEF as a ute?
Wait...I thought his name was Luke Abrazzi?
Never no mind - he sleeps with the fishes.
OwenKLs 4:18 link for Bill G for those not on Facebook.
(I have the same trouble with math problems, & when I hear one, my face looks exactly like that cat....)
CC, I don't think this Amy Johnson taking credit for your puzzle is funny at all. I mean, what if the paper sends her your check?
Thanks Marcia, I'll keep that one in mind.
Lemon & Tin - I don't see the two as quite the same thing - that's why I left it to the comments as it may be a British English thing.
To me, "Same old, same old" has connotations of being stuck in a rut. "Business As Usual" I'd infer to mean continuing on in the face of adversity. Didn't hold me up at all, it just registered on a very minor scale of hmmm?
John28man - true, I didn't think of that. Not sure he'd be considered much of a rival for the starting QB spot considering the Broncos signed Manning with the express intent of trading Tebow away.
Good evening everyone.
Good puzzle; didn't parse how the unifier worked, but got 'er done anyway. Plenty of strong perps like others have said. Some misdirection like the Spheres clue made it a strong Wednesday level solve. ETSY was new to me.
No searches or write-overs were needed.
Hi all,
I have to agree with spheres for area, forte might have been a better clue. Hands up for royal for noble and uno for una. I didn't look back on that one so a FIW but a breeze through otherwise.
Like big easy said Saban is a traitor in Louisiana,won a championship then went to the pros. I guess the BIG leagues are not his forte, sorry sphere lol.
Thinking mop for rag. Kenyans have to run fast in their country running from lions and if I had a bunch of LSU TIGERS on my heels I'd run fast too !!
@ PJE your welcome !
Bon Mercredi pour vous from Cajun Country !!
Bill G., thank you,very much, for taking the trouble to explain.
Now I get it.
I was confused when you kept stating that P goes 60 miles, when I thought it obvious that he travelled the whole distance when he reached the other city...
Pete does reach the other city as Fred reaches his destination - BUT not at the same time. So, when Fred turns around, Pete is still to reach his destination, for the turnaround.
So, your point is, that in continuous motion, Fred goes for the ratio of 60 miles out of every D, and Fred does the balance. So in 3D, Pete does 3 x 60 which is HIS D + 40.
Very Smart.
So, in actuality, since Pete:Fred is 60:80 or 3:4 or Pete is 75% of Fred - they would never meet except at some mid-crossover point.
As a corollary, I wonder if they both kept in continuous motion, would they ever meet at an end point - that is, either city.? If N was the number of Pete's intercity journeys, and M Fred's number of journeys, the time of meeting at an end city would have to be T of meeting at either city = (N x 140 ) miles / 60 mph = (M x 140) miles / 80 mph or 8N = 6M . so if N was 6 and M was 8 - they might meet at one of the cities.
Anyway, Thanks again.
Pete and Fred are idiots.
Dear Anon (8:41), Pete and Fred's job description is to try to addle any snarky anon's pea-sized brain and to cause frustration whenever possible. They may be stupid but smart enough to have done their job OK evidently.
Dunno why but sphere/area didn't bother me at all. What's your area of expertise? What is your sphere of influence? They're certainly not synonyms but can be used similarly.
A cartoon I found
Poor Dave,
Rich won't make the byline/check error. It's your newspaper's fault. Amy Johnson made the puzzle for last Monday.
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