Words: 72 (missing H,K,Q,Z)
Blocks: 28
Starting off the month with a Silkie was what I expected, and this one
seemed a bit tougher than the last two we had from him - but some
healthy WAGs got me just close enough to get a foothold, and with a few
corrections, was able to finish in 2/3 my personal time. Triple 9's and almost
triple 10's in the corners, a pair of 11-letter climbers, and one grid
spanner;
35a. "Define your world" online reference : URBAN DICTIONARY - Nailed it; some of the entries are funny, but much of it is vulgar, even for me - but I do like this one, only because I work at UPS
7d. Bit : BINARY DIGIT - Ah. I was of the mindset that it was going to be "TOOK A STAB AT"
23. Male cartoon character voiced by Nancy Cartwright : BART SIMPSON - I think most people who know the Simpsons know that Bart is done by a woman
oooooooooo n nn ww wa aa arr d rrrdd~!
ACROSS:
1. 1961 Jerry Lewis film, with "The" : ERRAND BOY
- never even heard of it; I had ERRA---, and from the little bit I know
about what J.L. did in most of his movies, this was a sensible WAG
10. In its entirety : UNCUT - I liked the UNCUT versions of the "Alien" movies, and the director's cut of "The Butterfly Effect" - anyone here see that~?
15. Peach variety : NECTARINE - Learn something new every day; but then again, when I think about it....
16. Indiana state flower : PEONY - a WAG with -E-N-
17. Availability indicators : DIAL TONES - Ah, availability on the phone
18. Certain candle : TAPER - threw it in, and it stayed
19. Activist gp. with a clenched fist in its logo : SDS
10. In its entirety : UNCUT - I liked the UNCUT versions of the "Alien" movies, and the director's cut of "The Butterfly Effect" - anyone here see that~?
15. Peach variety : NECTARINE - Learn something new every day; but then again, when I think about it....
16. Indiana state flower : PEONY - a WAG with -E-N-
17. Availability indicators : DIAL TONES - Ah, availability on the phone
18. Certain candle : TAPER - threw it in, and it stayed
19. Activist gp. with a clenched fist in its logo : SDS
20. Super Bowl highlight, for many : TV AD
- I do actually like the football, too, and last year, we got off to an
exciting start with the safety - threw the pool numbers off something
fierce
21. Heavy-duty soap brand : BORAXO - I have heard of Borax, and the 20-mule team, but this one is new to me; I had the "X", too
21. Heavy-duty soap brand : BORAXO - I have heard of Borax, and the 20-mule team, but this one is new to me; I had the "X", too
22. Open court hearing, in law : OYER - I started with OYEZ, and that was good enough
23. Monk music : BOP - ummm...makes me think of the monks from Monty Python, and the "bop" on the forehead with the wooden boards
23. Monk music : BOP - ummm...makes me think of the monks from Monty Python, and the "bop" on the forehead with the wooden boards
24. Certain NCO : CPL
25. Pacer and Medallion : AMCs - I had two AMCs myself; the Hornet Sportabout, which did have huge potential to be a cool ride - and the Concorde - which was not quite the SST mentioned in 4d.
25. Pacer and Medallion : AMCs - I had two AMCs myself; the Hornet Sportabout, which did have huge potential to be a cool ride - and the Concorde - which was not quite the SST mentioned in 4d.
28. 1963 Top 10 hit for Paul Petersen : MY DAD - Link away~! Way before my time
30. Function opening? : MAL - You get it this time, HeartRx~? I went with "DYS" again
31. Speculator of a sort : DAY TRADER
33. Early business language : COBOL - Another "throw it in there, and it sticks" answer
37. '50s-'60s civil rights activist : EVERS
38. Saturn, for one : GAS PLANET - I had the PLANET part, but for some reason, was really trying to get "EXO" in there - and I knew that 23d was dead on, so the "S" had to stay - duh
39. Sched. maker : IRS - Dah~! I was just talking to my accountant friend today, and this did not occur to me - the Internal Revenue Service and their 1040 breakdowns
40. Eyelashes : CILIA - Ooops....put the ol' "S" in there at the end for the plural, neglecting the Latin - does anyone know some one who is "uno-supercilium"~?
41. ID'ed : MADE - Like undercovers in cop shows
42. Org. chaired by Reince Priebus : RNC - Republican National Convention; perps
43. Scribble : JOT
44. Year Columbus began his fourth voyage : MDII - Hey~!! My Roman numeral WAG was right on~! I knew that it would be post-MCDXCII....
46. Corresponds : AGREES
48. Bandy words : SPAR - bandy, the verb; having a verbal dispute
49. Mint : NEW
52. Tanks, so to speak : FAILS - again the verb, not the armored vehicle, nor the armless shirt
53. Distinct : DISPARATE
55. "So Much in Love" pop group, with "The" : TYMES - not familiar to me, perps and a WAG
56. Non-profit whose corporate sponsors include Purina : ADOPT-A-PET
57. Words often evoking 58-Across : SEE ME - Circumferential on a Saturday....Teacher needs to see me after school....my buddy from UPS let me borrow his bootleg VH DVD from 1982 - wow
58. Common reaction to 57-Across : TENSENESS
DOWN:
1. Boundaries : ENDS
2. Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy : REID - I knew I spelled his name wrong ( E, not I )
3. Colortrak TVs, e.g. : RCAs - an educated WAG
4. SSTs flew over it : ATLantic - Ocean; JFK NY to London or Paris - used to rocket over my first house here on L.I.
5. Smart : NATTY - ah, not WITTY, but 60% correct
6. Annoyed big time : DROVE MAD - DAH~! I had put ---ERED in, thinking we might be looking for something like 'ANGERED', and that was no help at all....
8. Linear, briefly : ONE-D - this one keeps fooling me; One dimensional
9. "Roundabout" band : YES - I did not much care for anything but "Owner of a Lonely Heart" from them; too progressive, even for a 70's band
10. In the brain, to a Brit : UP TOP - Funny, but my parents are/were from England, and I have not heard this from them - ever.
11. In proximity : NEAR
12. Competitor of NYC's Latin Quarter : COPACABANA - Her name was Lola - oh, sorry, that's the Copa I know - and then I remembered this scene from Goodfellas
13. Like much of the Mariana Trench : UNEXPLORED - Bang~! Got it
14. Innsbruck's state : TYROL - mostly perps, and a WAG - Austria
21. Hunk's asset : BOD(y) - I went with ABS - BSSZZZT~!!
22. Very hot celestial orbs : O STARS - our sun is a G-type, 'yellow dwarf'
21. Hunk's asset : BOD(y) - I went with ABS - BSSZZZT~!!
22. Very hot celestial orbs : O STARS - our sun is a G-type, 'yellow dwarf'
25. Together, musically : ADUE
26. Posthumous 1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee : MARVIN GAYE
27. Phishing, e.g. : CYBERCRIME
29. Modeling accessory : DECAL - the kind of modeling I did as a child - the scale model cars and Star Wars vehicles
30. French address : MON AMI
32. Shot providers, briefly : RNs - because BARTENDERS did not fit
33. S.A. country : COLumbia - South America
34. Suffix with electro- : LYTE - ElectroLYTE, as in Gatorade
36. Tweetbot and GoodReader : iPAD APPS - I'll take Barry's word for it; I have a Samsung
40. Nasdaq listings : COs - COmpanies; seems silly I did not get this on the first pass
42. They may be rubber : RAFTS - oh, uh....not um, TREES
43. Aaron's "Breaking Bad" role : JESSE - have not seen the show (gasp~!) but I have heard enough to know something about it; I am done with my Buck Rogers box set - I think it's on to "Dexter" now
45. Steamed : IRATE
47. B or C, but not A or D : ELEMent - Dang~! Took too long for me to recognize this old fooler - B = Boron, C = Carbon, but no elements for A or D
48. Faction : SIDE - Dah~! Not SECT
49. View from behind? : NAPE - my first thought with the "N" in place, but I waited
50. Nice summers : ETEs
51. Moistens : WETS
53. Brooklynese pronoun : DAT
54. Appeared in print : RAN
26. Posthumous 1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee : MARVIN GAYE
27. Phishing, e.g. : CYBERCRIME
29. Modeling accessory : DECAL - the kind of modeling I did as a child - the scale model cars and Star Wars vehicles
30. French address : MON AMI
32. Shot providers, briefly : RNs - because BARTENDERS did not fit
33. S.A. country : COLumbia - South America
34. Suffix with electro- : LYTE - ElectroLYTE, as in Gatorade
36. Tweetbot and GoodReader : iPAD APPS - I'll take Barry's word for it; I have a Samsung
40. Nasdaq listings : COs - COmpanies; seems silly I did not get this on the first pass
42. They may be rubber : RAFTS - oh, uh....not um, TREES
43. Aaron's "Breaking Bad" role : JESSE - have not seen the show (gasp~!) but I have heard enough to know something about it; I am done with my Buck Rogers box set - I think it's on to "Dexter" now
45. Steamed : IRATE
47. B or C, but not A or D : ELEMent - Dang~! Took too long for me to recognize this old fooler - B = Boron, C = Carbon, but no elements for A or D
48. Faction : SIDE - Dah~! Not SECT
49. View from behind? : NAPE - my first thought with the "N" in place, but I waited
50. Nice summers : ETEs
51. Moistens : WETS
53. Brooklynese pronoun : DAT
54. Appeared in print : RAN
Splynter
37 comments:
Hello Puzzlers -
A tough Silkie today. I filled it in the way America was settled - east to west, and it took a while. There was an early winter in the northwest, lots of snow there. Once there were enough perps to see Nectarine, that cleared the way. The last to fall was Elem, 'cause that was one tricky clue!
Morning Splynter, thanks for 'splaining again.
Yep, definitely a Saturday Silkie, and a tough on at that!
A few unknowns today, including EVERS, TYMES, TYROL, and BORAXO. The last two caused me a lot of grief in the NE corner. I've heard of BORAX, but not BORAXO, and assumed that there must be a place in TEXAS called Innsbruck (although I really wanted Main).
Also, while I've heard of COPA CABANA, I had no idea there was a NYC club by that name. I also had no idea a NECTARINE was a type of peach???
In short, what Splynter said...
On the bright side, I got BART SIMPSON immediately from the clue, and didn't need much perp help to throw down URBAN DICTIONARY or BINARY DIGIT. So that helped...
Sorry, make that MAINE, not MAIN. You knew what I meant, right?
I did get MAL, Splynter. If the root word had been “functional,” I probably would have hesitated. But hand up for wiTTY before NATTY and Sect before SIDE!!
TYROL was a gimme. It is one of my favorite places to ski, and we stayed in the old town in Innsbruck last year.
Like Dudley, I solved from east to west. I was proud of myself for filling in BART SIMPSON…but only after I had ***TSIMPSON in place. ;-) ERRAND BOY was last to fall, and only after I got rid of the WI- from my “witty” mistake. Well, it wasn’t actually very witty of me, was it? But I did finish, in my usual time, with no lookups. But if I had been solving on paper I am sure it would have been one huge ink blot!
Have a great day, everyone!
Good morning!
Nope, this was not a speed run for me. I slogged through it right into overtime. I finally prevailed, thanks to Wite-Out.
Hand up for DYS before MAL. EVERS and COBOL were my only entries the first time through the across clues. Didn't help that I mis-read "speculator" as "spectacular".
I remember BORAXO very well, and it was (is?) a product of that 20-mule team company. It was a gritty, non-foaming hand cleaner. It cleaned the grease off by abrasion, mostly. Once Goop hit the market, I never bought BORAXO again. Here's a trivia question, four actors played the "Old Ranger" on Death Valley Days, sponsored by 20-Mule Team Borax. Can you name two of 'em?
Splynter, don't feel bad about the TYMES -- that song was also from 1963. I think Barry Silk might have been stuck in a rut.
This was the usual Saturday grind it out puzzle that had a few unknowns that required WAGS and crosses. BORAXO 'MY DAD' TYMES JESSE REID 'ERRAND BOY'
This puzzle had too many abbreviations to be enjoyable, as in ONE-D CPL COL SDS RNS RNC BOD ELEM 'TV AD' and the old company abbreviations RCA and AMC.
I, unfortunately, had the displeasure of owning an AMC Javelin. Total POS.
Re 27D: Is PHISHING a crime in itself, or merely a set-up by someone with criminal intent?
My solve echoed Dudley's very well. Had the entire east (though with effort) but only had SDS and Yes in the western Frontier. I did manage to get the SW after Marvin Gaye filled, but could't do much with the NW. Put in and took out RCAs twice. Finally googled for Reid and Errand Boy to get it unlocked. So....it's filled, but a DNF.
Funny you think that Lonely Heart is the best of Yes, Splynter. I was a fan in the day, and always felt that that song was just plain awful. Jon Anderson did go on to do some interesting things later on, though.
Busy day yesterday and today so I'll have to do the Saturday Silkie later. But I wanted to post about the Dinner Gala with Chris Hadfield. Terrific!!
He is an interesting and dynamic speaker. Very "down to earth" (pun intended) for an astronaut. When asked how he would rate his space trip on Trip Advisor, he responded, "Sleeping area somewhat cramped; bathroom facilities - inadequate; view - magnificent; number of stars - ALL OF THEM!" Standing ovation at the end.
And DH got his book autographed.
Hi Y'all! My experience with the last two days of puzzles can best be described with those immortal words: AAAARGH!
Thank you, Lemonade & Splynter for your dedication to making sense of the senseless.
Upper East Side issues that were very satisfactory when resolved:
-Speculator not Spectacular, availability was not these Amsterdam RED LIGHTS, NECTARINE is a peach, and “a big fat no” on LCD’S for RCA’S, ELO for YES, SMART for NATTY. What fun!
Musings
-You either liked or hated Jerry Lewis movies. I’m in the latter camp
-Having the first PEONY or Tomato around here is a competition
-Pre-presidential BORAXO TV AD
-GASSY Saturn fact
-So Much In Love was in the background for many of my dating, uh, activities
-Verbal SPARRING is a fun exercise for me
-We did ADOPT A PET last month
-REID’s Chiefs killed Belichick’s Pats last Monday night
-Most famous DROVE MAD movie?
-Joann used to angrily reply to PHISHING emails, which, of course, is what they want
-Tom and Wilson on a non-rubber RAFT
Panicked with only 1 fill Across and 1 Down after 1st pass, but with 1 assist from Dr Google and a lot of persistence, arrived at a FWH. OYER last to fall.
p.s. NASA’s call of a of a MAJOR MALFUNCTION @ 1:52 (2:05)
Help! I bought a MacBook Pro laptop yesterday and used their word processor, Pages, to write my blog today as I usually do in Word. However, when I type the link code in Pages e.g.
usatoday
copy and paste it here in the comment box, it gives me an error message that http is not allowed... But if I type the code letter for letter in the comment box, it is fine. Copying and pasting this link html code from Word has always worked but not from Pages. Any ideas?
Thanks!
No "ta-da" for me today as I couldn't get one letter (22D/A cell). This was harder than most "Silkies", but very enjoyable. A few curveballs but doable.
I've gotta say that one of my top 5 all-time favorite albums is Marvin Gaye's " What's Going On". A classic in every sense.
Snow in Chicago this AM. What's that all about, it's only October 4 !
Hi Everyone:
A typical Saturday Silkie, but with lots of P and P, finished w/o help. Copa Cabana was slow coming as all I could think of was Toots Shor's and Elaine's. Hand up for dys before mal, otherwise smooth sailing, if somewhat slow.
Thanks, Barry, for an enjoyable, if tough, solve, and thanks, Splynter for the expert expo.
Have a great Saturday.
I've had such a good crossword week with a perfect solve yesterday that I was hoping for a great Saturday. 'Twas not to be--not only did we get a Silkie, but it turned out to be a dreaded Silkie, for me, anyway. Got nothing until I hit the very bottom and so started in the SW, with some good solves (BART SIMPSON, DICTIONARY (but not URBAN) along the way. But had to cheat in the end.
I did get TYROL, having grown up in Austria, but had DECOR instead of DECAL (I still think that fits better) and BOLivia instead of COLombia. Oh well, at least Splynter's expo and the blogging was fun.
Desper-otto--haven't thought of 'Death Valley Days' and 20 Mule Team Borax in decades but remember them well!
Enjoy a great weekend, everybody!
The moral of the story is: Don't do a Silkie with very little sleep the night before. I got two words and crashed, so here I am. However, these puzzles usually are a great Saturday relaxation for me, so thank you for the explanations. I'm so glad that there's not 30 plus inches of snow going on today as it was a year ago. So much to do and so little sleep=hope I make it before I TANK....
Big DNF for me today. I started late after 18 holes of golf and threw in the towel after one pass through. Far too many unknowns, and I didn't have the energy to slog though it.
Good afternoon everyone.
Experience was similar to that of Dudley and Avg Joe. Got the E ok but needed help in the W. Too much Pop. Rock, and nostalgia,
But doing a Silkie is always entertaining and a broadening experience.
Big learning was that NECTARINE was a recessive gene type of peach.
There are only 9 Austrian states and only one with 5 letters - TYROL - perhaps the most well known.
BORAXO came easily.
Definitely a tough time from Mr Silk! I got almost nuthin' the first and second times through-- just a couple of Ss where I knew plural endings required them. Then I hit on NEW and ETES down in the SE sector. The next to fall was A DUE, remembered from earlier pzls.
I went with a few WAGs to net RCAS, MD (part of 44A), SIDE, and JOT. Luckily, they all came through.
CYBER CRIME and URBAN DICTIONARY were the first biggies to fall, and they came to me based on only three or four letters each. It's great how our brains can fill in so much based on slim clues!
I had to look up REID and TYMES around then, to keep the snowball rolling, and then it was smooth(-ish) sailing to the end.
Once again I did a Silkie with about two third on paper and finished online because I too many write overs to see some of the long fills.
Greetings!
A real slog from Barry. One cheat: Lewis film. Otherwise would probably still be slogging away. Immediate fill was BART SIMPSON. Yay!
Thanks, Splynter.
Never heard of YES and a few others. Scratched head over ELEM.
Gary: Don't quite get your question. You could call Apple, I suppose.
Cheers!a
Been working on this one on-and-off all day. Finally conceded and waved the DNF flag.
Took a bit of pride in completing 9 of the longer answers. Otherwise a few too many obscure abbreviations played havoc with the rest of the 9's and 10's.
But whether we celebrate our victories or lament our defeats, I can still look forward to enjoying a good .35 cent cigar out on the front deck.
Ole Miss is playing 'Bama tonight...the cats are hiding in the basement. (Entirely too much yelling and screaming for their delicate ears.)
Olio:
I'm dealing with battling ear worms. United has dusted off their Rhapsody in Blue ad campaign, so there's that. Then, Nebraska plays MSU in 2 hours, so there's There is no Place Like Nebraska prancing around in my head. Hard to tell which tune is winning.
And Steve, if you're out there. We've been watching Stanford vs Notre Dame. There was an odd call in the 2nd quarter where the officials effectively called the Cardinal band for unsportsmanlike conduct. It was just a warning, but it involved the arms spread signal and vividly reminded me of our exchange a week and a half ago. Unsportsmanlike Jesus, fer sure, given the venue.
NU vs OSU V ball is on. Gotta go.
GBR!
HG, check to see if there are unwanted spaces in your http code. I use Word for Mac on my MacBook Pro, and have the same problem when I create a comment link and try to copy and paste it into the comment section. I find it easier to make the link in the comment section itself - for some reason, it does not add extra spaces that way.
Who's the boss? Wussy dogs and alpha cats. Cats vs dogs
Ole Miss just won vs. 'Bama.
So here's why the cats are hiding in the cellar:
Are you ready?
Hell, yeah! Damn Right!
Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty
Who the hell are we, Hey!
Flim Flam, Bim Bam
OLE MISS BY DAMN!
Marti.....Hotty toddy to you, too! I'm for Ole Miss except when they play LSU. My personal house is so divided between the two, it a wonder any of them speak.
Oh, yes. the CW. I flunked out badly. Silkies always win with me! But I had fun...and loved Splynter 'splainin' it all for me! Thanks!
"Starting off the month with a Silkie was what I expected, and this one seemed a bit tougher..."
Yes, because it's a trivia quiz in too many areas. Bad puzzle.
SwampCat, I root for LSU whenever they are not playing Ole Miss. But they are taking a beating tonight vs. Auburn. But, it is only the 2nd...
Bill G., my cats would rule any dog that came within five blocks of here...
Heart Rx, we will NOT mention that dirty word Auburn!! Hehehehe
I believe "Monk music" refers to Theolonius Monk - a pioneer of bebop or bop jazz music.
Hell Yeah! We suck.
Agreed. At least for 45 minutes.
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