17. Progressive Era muckraker : IDA TARBELL. "She depicted John D. Rockefeller as crabbed, miserly, money-grabbing, and viciously effective at monopolizing the oil trade." My kind of girl.
25. "Pretty darn good" : NOT BAD AT ALL. A little bit better than faint praise.
37. Assume a military posture : STAND AT ATTENTION. I'd say this grid spanner is even better than NOT BAD AT ALL. This grid is 16*15.
50. Waved from the curb, perhaps : HAILED A TAXI.
And, of course, the unifier. 61. NSA surveillance activity ... or, the process needed to dig out the info hidden in 17-, 25-, 37- and 50-Across? : DATA MINING. You can read about the NSA activity here. For sure, you have to dig into the theme answers to dig out DATA.
Hi gang, It's your humble servant JazBumpa, also your driver on today's TAXI ride, while C. C. navigates. Buckle up and let's see if we can get to our destination without any mishaps; though I do expect a SNARL.
Across
1. Union foes : REBS. Union vs REBel forces, American Civil War.
5. Sing like Joe Cocker : RASP. Take it away, Joe.
9. Cowl wearer : MONK. A religious ascetic. Not this guy.
Song is mislabeled. Should be EPISTROPHY
13. '90s-'00s Lakers great : O'NEAL. Shaq.
15. Kevin's "A Fish Called Wanda" role : OTTO.
16. __ sprawl : URBAN. City expansion
19. Walk away : LEAVE. Here's your hat. Don't let the door hit it you in the . . . [SLAM!]
20. Charms : ENAMORS. Aha. I had GLAMORS [perhaps from rereading A Dance With Dragons] but here "charms" is a verb, meaning "becomes endearing to."
21. Grain Belt st. : KANsas.
23. TV diner owner : MEL. Did he go with the Flo?
24. "Spring forward" letters : DST. Daylight Savings Time. We are now fallen back on Nightdark Savings Time. Winter is coming.
28. Carte start : A LA. Make sure you get your A LA before the carte. This is the normal way of ordering in a restaurant, where each item or combination is individually priced, as opposed to a fixed price - limited menu scheme.
29. Settle up : PAY. Either way, you have to exchange money for goods and services rendered.
30. More unusual : ODDER.
31. Hobby shop wood : BALSA.
33. "Terrific!" : COOL.
34. With 26-Down, fashionable footwear : UGG. See 26 D.
42. Child-care writer LeShan : EDA.
43. Stirs in : ADDS. Kitchen talk
44. Sunburn-causing emission, for short : UV RAY. Short wave length, high energy.
45. Driving __ : RANGE. Where you practice your golf shots.
47. Readers of MSS. : EDS. Editors and Manuscripts.
49. Corp.-partnership hybrid : LLC. Limited Liability Company.
54. One of four in Minnesota: Abbr. : SYLlables.
55. Chicago trains : ELS. ELevated urban rail system.
56. Sun. address : SERmon. Stay awake, now.
57. Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior : THE MAGI. The three wise
59. In again : RETRO. Something from the past redone, only better. We hope.
64. Sink down : DROOP.
65. Villainous : EVIL.
66. Proofreader's mark : CARET. An inverted V-shaped grapheme used to indicate where a punctuation mark, word, or phrase should be inserted in a document.
67. Store : STOW. Put away.
68. "Good shot!" : NICE. What you might hear after due diligence at the driving RANGE. Gary?
69. "One more thing ..." : ALSO. But wait - there's more . . . Now, on to the verticals.
Down
1. Louis XIV, par exemple : ROI. King of France
2. Ran over : ENDED LATE. Ran over the clock, perhaps in A TAXI - which must be why it DROOPS. Or am I confusing things?
3. Vegetarian side : BEAN SALAD.
4. Occupied, as a booth : SAT AT.
5. Cocktail named for a Scottish hero : ROB ROY. A manhattan analog, using sweet vermouth with Scotch in place of the rye whiskey. Not on my list. I don't mix Scotch with anything. Tin Man - do you concur?
6. Bikini tryout : A-TEST. Not in a dressing room. Bikini was a ring-shaped coral archipelago in the Marshall Islands where Atomic bomb testing was conducted. Is there anything left atoll?
7. Mo. town : ST. Louis.
8. Bikini feature in a 1960 hit : POLKA DOT. And a clecho!
9. Field fare, briefly : MRE. Meal Ready to Eat, for soldiers in the field.
10. 2009 Peace Nobelist : OBAMA. Barack.
11. Orange variety : NAVEL.
12. Mournful ring : KNELL.
14. Fast flight : LAM. Escape.
16. Radii-paralleling bones : ULNAE. Bones of the lower arm.
18. Gossipy Barrett : RONA. Columnist, born Oct 6, 1936, and still goin'.
22. Bewilder : ADDLE.
26. See 34-Across : BOOTS.
27. Network with the slogan "Not Reality. Actuality." : TRU TV.
28. Core muscles : ABS. Abdominals.
29. Knee protector : PAD.
32. Traffic problem : SNARL. Too many vehicles and not enough road. See? Told ya so. [You'd almost think I had inside information] Now tell that guy behind me to lay off the horn.
33. Officer-to-be : CADET. West Point student.
35. Unlikely tomboy : GIRLY GIRL. Here is Gloria at cold and windy Pensacola beach exactly one year ago today with granddaughters Lauren (L) and Abby (R). Lauren is for sure a GIRLY GIRL. Abby most definitely is not.
My girls
36. Pair on a football field : GOAL LINES. Lines that must be crossed to score in American football.
38. "Storage Wars" network : A AND E.
39. Boston Bruins' home : T D GARDEN. Named tor T D Bank, a subsidiary of Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank.
40. Letters after mus : NUs. It's all Greek to me
41. Lincoln Ctr. site : NYC. New York City.
46. Man of fables : AESOP. Also Greek.
47. Sigh with relief, say : EXHALE. Out with the bad air.
48. Carpe __ : DIEM. Seize the day.
50. Grazing groups : HERDS. Cattle
51. Wide awake : ALERT.
52. Insistent words from a sandbox : IS TOO. Is Not. [etc.] Kid talk.
53. Commonly dusty room : ATTIC. Top floor.
54. Capital of Yemen : SANA'A. Yeah. I had to look it up, too.
58. Open __ night : MIC. For amateur comics.
60. Ticket word : ROW. Also seat.
62. Bird: Pref. : AVI-. I wanted ORN-
63. Sporty Pontiac : GTO. Gran Turismo Omologato. [Grand Touring Homologated.]
.JPG/1024px-%2766_Pontiac_GTO_Convertible_(Orange_Julep).JPG)
NICE ride with C.C. today, and a classy classic way to end it. Would somebody please get the garage door for me?
Cool regards!
JzB
Note from C.C.:
A bit late, but please click here for "A Time for Remembrance" puzzle George Barany & Michael Shteyman (a well-known NYT constructor) constructed. Oh, TTP & Spitzboov, Boomer went to our local Credit Union yesterday. Showed them his veteran's ID card and got a nice envelop. Guess what's inside? (Correction: envelope. )
44 comments:
Morning, all!
Running late this morning, so I'll be brief. Fine, fun puzzle. Got a little delayed when I went with GOAL POSTS instead of GOAL LINES and STOOP instead of DROOP. Everything else was smooth sailing.
Morning,
Nice offering from CC today and JzvB, thanks for your usual fun write up. This went along at a steady pace until I reached the SE corner where I hit some ???????????????'s.
Didn't help beginning with GOAL posts. GOAL LINES sort of forced their way into the solution. DATA MINING, SANAA, GIRLY GIRL& and MIC all were slow to appear.
I think of an ARTTIC as a floor level, not a room (but I guess you could call it a big room). Perps took care of it.
Only other hesitation was UGG. Never heard the expression before.
Have a enjoyable Hump Day.
My spelling/typing stinks. Line 5..ARTTIC s/b ATTIC.
The final fill, the "S" in SANAA, was a WAG and it took a few seconds for the V8 can to hit with SYL. I kept wondering what Minnesota had four of. Lakes? Nah.
thehondohurricane@6:41:
In this instance UGG is not an expression, it's a very popular brand of boot.
Good morning!
Nice puzzle, C.C. (Thanks for the shoutout at 15a.) You were unusually humorous (not radii or ulnae) this morning, JzB.
Hand up for GOAL Posts, then Zones before LINES showed up. I did not know the MAGI had names; was Caspar friendly? I misread the reveal clue as NASA and wondered why they were DATA MINING in space?
Anybody care to revive the CARET, carat, karat, carrot discussion. Whew! I hoped not.
C.C., was it a thank-you card?
Good morning!
Fun offering from C.C. today, with a witty and informative expo from Jazzb. What could be better?
As usual, I was pretty much on C.C.'s wave length today. My only total unknown was IDA TARBELL. That one needed all 10 perps.
I wasn't fooled by "Bikini tryout," and even remembered the POLKA DOT in the 1960 bikini hit. That song made a huge impact on me when I was young, because I think that was the year that I actually wore my first bikini. (Not yellow, and no polka dots, though!)
I also wavered between GOAL posts or LINES, but realized that a football field has 4 goal posts, not two. Other than that, easy peasy!
I see that C.C. had a CSO with "Minnesota," and gave the northeast contingent a CSO with TD GARDEN. Yay!
Happy hump day everyone!
Only -4° this morning. Supposed to drop to -18° tonight and high winds are predicted.
Great time to curl up with good crosswords!
I always enjoy CC's puzzles and this was no exception. It was a DNF because of the S in SYL and SANAA. Didn't understand syl until reading the blog this morning. Perps were helpful today.
Not likely to find a traffic SNARL where I live. I often can drive 50 miles on a two-lane highway and see only one car. (My record is 110 miles on a Sunday morning before meeting a vehicle.)
A college son working as a hotel night clerk, checked in a guy for two rooms. When he handed him the keys, Shaq walked in. My son called home immediately to tell us who he had just seen.
Have a good day,
Montana
East breezy puzzle. I liked the data mining theme, CC. Fun expo, JzB. My only doubt was about RASP, but the perps gave it to me.
My grandma turned her attic into a cozy bedroom where we stayed when we visited her. My sibs and I were fascinated by a vintage gramophone which she kept in the attic. It had a huge bell, had to be hand cranked, and still played. Grandma had several 78 discs which were thick, breakable and single sided. A trip into the past.
Abejo, IDA TARBELL was born in Erie, PA, the home of good people like you.
Our friends OTTO and Dorothy Mott,
Really like ballroom dancing a lot.
But the dance they like best,
During Oktoberfest,
Has made folks nickname her, POLKA DOT!
"Puzzling thoughts"
Nice puzzle C.C. Got some golf in there, basketball, football, a SO to Desper-OTTO and some Minnesota facts, too!
I got screwed up in the NW corner as I couldn't get LAM, ENAMORS or ENDED LATE. With the latter, I never saw "two words". Oh well, a DNF or FIW on a Wednesday is not normal for me, but if I have to "lose", I'm not upset losing to a "CCCW"
I too noticed the clue/solve at 66A and thank Lemony for his recent homophonic review of the two SYL word CARET - so I did not confuse it with KARAT, CARAT or CARROT!!
Oh and thanks, CC for using the solve POLKA DOT. Been waiting awhile for the right time for today's limerick!! ;^)
Good Morning:
As always, a fun and clever challenge from our CC. Only write-over was sat in before sat at. Ugg boots may be popular but I don't find them attractive at all; they seem to be a must-have with teenagers.
Thanks, CC, and thanks, JzB, for a witty and detailed expo.
Montana, I don't envy you the weather you're having or the record snowfall some places have gotten. It's way too early and doesn't bode well for a temperate winter. Stay safe and warm everyone.
Have a great day.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.
This was a most interesting puzzle to me. One of Erie County, PA's most noted person's was in the puzzle, IDA TARBELL. Quite a writer.
Also THE MAGI, were here today.
I thought DST was a good one, with the clue.
I also wrote in GOAL POSTS, then corrected that to GOAL LINES. Big inkblot.
A TEST was also clever for bikini tryout.
TD GARDEN was not known toy me but I got it with perps and a wag.
Theme was very good. Took me a while to get DATA MINING, but I did.
Early this morning my furnace died. I believe it is my draft motor. The guy should be out later today with a replacement. Coldest day of the fall.
See you tomorrow and hopefully warmer.
Abejo
(9418)
Good morning everyone.
STAND AT ATTENTION; no, belay that. As you were.
Fun midweek puzzle with lots of fresh fill. Got the theme fill ok, and the unifier, without realizing the imbedded DATA's and the 16 X 15 grid, before reading JzB's intro. Well done,
LAM - funny word. Not really in my spoken vocabulary, but when I read it, I chortle.
C,C, I'm guessing there was enough in the envelope to take you to a fine dinner.
Nice Wednesday puzzle CC. It had some head scratching and some "had to be" fills. Altogether enjoyable.
Like HeartRx I needed all ten perps for IDATARBELL. Perps were needed a lot today.
I Knew the capital of Yemen but wasn't sure of the spelling, was it 2 N's or 2 A's. Finally settled on AA because CNRET made no sense.
JazzB: you might mix a little Drambuie (a Scotch based liqueur) with your scotch (preferably a good single malt) to make a Rusty Nail. You might enjoy the slightly sweeter taste for a change of pace.
Enjoy the day everyone.
Hello, friends.
I missed you yesterday but I was enjoying a lovely day trip to Sedona with friends.
Another nice gem from C.C. today and though not exactly a romp, it was fairly quick with only a few stumbles mostly due to the fact that I don't watch daytime TV. TRUTV was a WAG and I know AANDE but not Storage Wars. I really dislike reality TV.
Also I agree with IrishMiss about UGG BOOTS being unattractive. I believe it is a play on ugh.
Thank you, C.C. and JazzB. I'm still tired from yesterday's outing and have the puzzle to complete as well.
Have a great Wednesday, everyone!
"Howard!" R.I.P. Carol Ann Susi.
Not exactly a speed-run today but I finished! Thanks C.C. and JzB for the fun.
Lots of STANDing AT ATTENTION yesterday at Remembrance Day services.
I wanted WISEMEN before THE MAGI today, and I SAT IN the booth before I SAT AT. I smiled at misdirection of Bikini clues, and noted another CARET after yesterday's discussion. SANA'A was in my memory from previous CWs.
We see more LTD than LLC here in Canada. SIL to have surgery this week after a fall in which she fractured her ULNA and radius!
Garden produced so many beans over the summer that we got sick of BEAN SALAD!
Much colder today and forecast of snow to the north. Hope I don't need my UGGs yet!
Hi gang -
Great fun today. On the minus side, my lap top is dying - right here in my lap.
So I'll keep it short and wish everyone a happy Wednesday.
Cool regards!
JzB
I would love to hear someone explain why OBAMA deserved to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Try to keep a straight face.
D-Otto & Spitzboov,
Free car wash coupon. I thought it was sweet. Boomer was like Bill G with certain puzzles: Whelmed.
Oh, do any of you use Sonicare toothbrush? Is it really better than regular toothbrush?
Good morning/afternoon. Another enjoyable puzzle came and went but not without a struggle. I had trouble in the upper-left where I always start. The confluence of REBS, ENDEDLATE, LAM, IDATARBELL and SATAT(IN) seemed harder than I would have expected.
Well, I'll always love C.C. puzzles, but this one was a toughie for me--more like a Friday than a Wednesday. My problem came with not knowing TRUTV or UGG BOOTS, and struggling in a few other places. But I found the theme a delight and mined all the DATA in the theme answers. So, many thanks, C.C., as always.
Loved the Dali picture, JazzB.
Loved your limerick, Moe.
Have a great Wednesday, everybody!
Is this how Boomer reacted when he opened his envelope?
Btw, the Sonicare IS the greatest thing since sliced bread! It takes a few days for your teeth and gums to get used to the 'tickling' but after a couple of weeks I wished it had a higher speed setting. Both my dentist and periodontist recommended it and my dental hygienist thanks me for using it since her job is now much easier.
Hello Puzzlers -
What Spitz said. The 16 x 15 grid went unnoticed. Thanks for another fun puzzle, C. C.!
Morning, JzB, good to see the cold snap hasn't slowed your sense of humor. Speaking of which: hang in there Montana!
Subbing on a 19˚F day and showing a “put ‘em to sleep” video. A lovely CC puzzle is a great stimulant
Musings
-STANDING AT ATTENTION too long
-Joe Cocker and Janis Joplin RASPED to fame
-12 things Shaq has endorsed
-Grain state KAN is suing grain state NEB because the latter is withholding river water for irrigation
-Yup, manly man, Tom Brady wears/endorses them
-Indoor GOLF DRIVING RANGE 10 minutes from here. “NICE” is a, uh, nice appellation to hear, Jazz!
-RETRO? Heck I wore those 40 yrs ago. Wait a minute…
-60 Minutes is often delayed by games that ENDED LATE
-ST. Louis is on edge pending the Ferguson decision
-I wished Joann’s uncle a Happy Vet’s Day yesterday and we talked about the difference between his K-rations and today’s MRE’s
-I helped 150 kids find this ULNA Thursday
-Jazz, that looks like our July ocean picture at Gold Beach, OR. Brrr…
-Best toilet in NYC according to George Costanza – Lincoln Center. Alice Tully Hall, the Met. Magnificent facilities.
-EXHALE with relief or joy
C.C. 10:57 -
We began using Sonicare toothbrushes this summer. We don't have input from our dentists yet, but I can say that the fancy brush does make your teeth feel really smooth. Also, since it has a built-in cycle timer, it sort of shames you into doing a full, thorough brushing. We figure that's a good thing.
C.C.
I use a SonicCare toothbrush though I can't say I love it. In fact I use it after manually brushing and flossing. I feel it doesn't reach as well as the manual brush but it's good for an after brush. It's amazing how many bits of food are there even after all those procedures.
My dentist is pleased with the results, too.
Good afternoon everyone.
Yes, C.C., my DH and I use a Sonic toothbrush. Dentist says it has improved my teeth. We like it.
This puzzle was too hard for a Wednesday, IMO.
Good morning all,
Such fun to wake up to a C.C. creation. I'm rarely up in her knowledgeable wavelength, but I give it my all. Like Bill, that NW corner was my downfall. Putting Magic instead of Oneal didn't help, nor did enamors crossing a test.I did know about the atomic tests on the island of Bikini, but couldn't finish even with 3 perps. Sigh.
Great write up, Bumpa. I was still scratching my head over mus nus until I read your comment, and then it clicked.
The rest went well. Even though I didn't get Ida, I did get Eda.
Had me thinking a long time about "one of 4 in M.." I love the way the natives say that word.
Lucina, I do watch DWTS, and Amazing Race, but that is the extent of my reality TV. Who would have thought that filming people in their homes would catch on and make them stars. Talk about data mining!!
Again, stay warm all of you who are getting swept into that cold front. Got your uggs?
open "MIKE" night
Re: "Open MIC Night" vs. "Open Mike Night", Googlefight gives the nod to the former.
Showed them his veteran's ID card and got a nice envelop. Guess what's inside ?
umm, the letter e ?
Hello everybody. Neat-o puzzle; I enjoyed solving it. Somehow I already had BOOTS, so filling UGG was easy, especially because it is a puzzle by fashion plate C.C. Hand up for filling GOAL POSTS first and then having to change it. Like HeartRx, it took lots of perps to get IDA TARBELL. How the heck did you ever hear about her, C.C.?
Whew, I remember sub-zero temperatures during the harsh winters of my childhood in the Black Hills as well as my stint at Malmstrom Air Force Base just outside of Great Falls, Montana. It may be expensive to live here in San Jose, CA, but you sure can't beat the weather (most of the time.)
I wish our house had an ATTIC; we have way too much junk filling the garage. Hardly room for the car. Houses around here don't have basements, probably because of the earthquake risk.
Glad you had a good time in Sedona, Lucina.
Nifty limerick today, Mr. Chairman.
Best wishes to you all.
Big fat DNF!
I could not get 20A enamors even with two letters missing. (what do I know about charming?..) & I had 14D LA- (to me fast flight should have been SST!) 1D = French! (no fair!) So I did not have the 100% required perps for IdaTarbell )*^&#%$^*(*&*^
Oh well, I never would have got the "s" in the 54 box anyway...
Nice theme anyway...
But you do have to dig thru the data...
Oh, by the way... Those Captchas you have been filling out were designed to entrap school teachers...
President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the fourth US president to be so honored. He is the only one of the four to have been awarded the prize during his first year of office. The Nobel committee gave the award citing President Obama’s work towards a new climate in international relations, particularly in reaching out to the Muslim world.
(snicker, snicker)
It seems as if the Norwegian Nobel Committee was guilty of premature decoration.
I am always in awe that somebody whose native language is NOT English can construct puzzles in English. So many idioms and place names to fit in the allowable space.
Sonicare? Who knows. Go get a $5.00 Spiderman spinbrush from Wal-Mart. Probable works as well
It was a fairly easy puzzle that I enjoyed because there were not PROPER NAMES for answers, especially obscure singers, writers, and actors. We do fine ROB ROY and ROI and IDA TARBELLI, but I think that's all. CARET and CADET in the same puzzle.
MRE- we had them after Katrina. Too salty. OTTO is OTTO spelled backwards and my only unknown if you don't count spelling. I can never remember if it is EDA or ADA, SANAA or SAANA.
Words that I always heard rom a sandbox were NO, NO, and NO.
Hey Big Easy, it seems you lost your f in the sandbox.
I've been grinding my teeth on this one on-and-off during the day. Even after I had a completely filled-in grid, I still lacked confidence in some of the letters and words I created. Oh well, onward to this site to check my work and DISCOVER that it's a C.C. puzzle!
Here I am, grunting my way through it all day, when I should have been enjoying the 'aha! what would C.C. do here?' moments.
Thanks Jazz for the write up and thank you C.C. for concealing your identity until the reveal.
PK, I like your sense of humor. You too, Jazzb.
Good morning all !
That's not right, but it's been a hectic day. I'd like a do-over.
Did the puzzle early, but then my business line rang and I never got back to it.
This puzzle was NOT BAD AT ALL. Wait, if that's only a little better than faint praise, I'll retract that statement and say it was really good. Do I dare say awesome ? Sorry HG !
I didn't have the problems in the NW corner. Didn't know IDA TARBELL, but by the time I was making my second pass, DATA filled in nicely.
A small problem where so many had GOAL POSTS initially. On my first pass, I threw in SIDE LINES, but quickly cleared that up during the second pass. Same with having RARER rather than ODDER.
Thank you JzB, and thank you CC. Fun stuff !
CC, that was a nice gesture by your Credit Union. Did Boomer take advantage of it already ? A young neighbor went through a drive through car wash last winter and couldn't get the doors opened the next morning.
Also, based on your recommendation, I showed the Trader Joe's Pot Stickers pic to my wife, and she just came home with both the Thai Veggie and the Shrimp versions. She is going to make some of each. She also bought some of Traders Ming's gyoza dipping sauce.
Chairman Moe, nice limericks for yesterday and today. Your DW and I are originally from the same area. Less than 15 miles. DW and I live less than 5 miles from where you lived while you were here. Small world.
Hi All!
Nope, all wasn't the answer for 58d no matter how many times I said IS TOO! Nope - MIC.
A NICE CC puzzle to start the day (I didn't finish until after work though). Well, technically, I DNF square 54. But NOT BAD (for me) AT ALL.
JzB thanks for making up for my DROOPy DNF mood with a funny writeup.
Write-overs: WEES.
Fav: OTTO. I could only hope for an e in 21a!
I worked at 9d, a consultcy, for 15 years - it stood for MIT and Rice Engineers, the schools each founder got their engr. deg.
Dad turned his ATTIC into the winter cigar room. I'm sure he's up there as I type.
Funny C. Moe.
Since everyone's ENAMORed with the Sonic Care, I'm sold!
Cheers, -T
JD:
You watch the best of the choices, IMHO, as I've seen some of both DWTS and Amazing Race. They are more like performances, especially the dancing, and quite entertaining.
I just like dialog and drama. Usually PBS fills the slot nicely.
TTP,
Probably soon, with the bad weather we've been having. I hope you enjoy those potstickers. The traditional dipping sauce is very easy to make: sauce sauce, vinegar and minced garlic.
Jayce,
TTP needs to add you and himself in his vet tribute next year.
Lucina et al,
Thanks for the Sonicare feedback.
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