Theme: "Double Shift" - The highlighted red letter in its theme answers is shifted two places to the right.
23A. eHarmony, e.g.? : MEAT MATE MARKET. Meat market.
28A. Pride of a pride protector? : MEAN MANE STREAKS. Mean streaks.
34A. Made a healthier menu selection? : WENT WITH THE FLOW FOWL. Went with the flow.
59A. Organized effort to get a different judge? : RESCUE RECUSE MISSION. Recuse mission.
66A. Ashes? : GREAT GRATE EXPECTATIONS. Great Expectations.
78A. Contest in which tires are hurled? : SPEAR SPARE THROWING. Spear throwing.
96A. Makes meticulous roster moves? : TREADS TRADES CAREFULLY. Treads carefully.
104A. Precious river stone? : NEIL NILE DIAMOND. Neil Diamond.
117A. How to eat lots of soup? : BLOW BOWL BY BLOW BOWL. Blow by blow. Double action in this answer.
Amazing theme. I can't imagine the amount of work Alan Olschwang did to make this happen.
Heavy themage too. Total 115 theme squares, including a tricky 17-letter middle entry. I'd definitely need 144 words & 78 black squares (this one has only 140 words and 70 black squares).
Across:
1. Shock : DAZE
5. Some barks : SHIPS. I had no idea that "barks" are ships.
10. Model material : BALSA
15. Sticks figure : RUBE
19. Former Wall Street acronym : AMEX (American Stock Exchange)
20. Philosopher __-Louis Bergson : HENRI. Not into philosophy. Never heard of the guy.
21. First of 12 : ARIES. I thought of ENERO first. Nuts.
22. Up to no good : EVIL
25. Member of a trendsetting family? : JONES. Nice clue.
26. Valley : DELL
27. Brazen : SHAMELESS
30. Party planner, briefly? : POL. Outwit me.
31. Pueblo pronoun : ESO
33. Stuns, in a way : TASES
41. Sticks : MIRES
45. Second part of a Latin conjugation : AMAS
46. Bone, to Benito : OSSO
47. Curved fastening bar : U-BOLT
49. Designer sportswear label : GANT. Known for its shirts.
50. Volcano feature : RIM
51. High-ranking NCO : M-SGT (Master Sergeant)
53. Vent with vehemence : RAGE. And 64. Vent with vehemence : RANT
55. Stopped producing : RAN DRY
57. Draws out : ELICITS
62. Andalusian address : SENORA
63. Unaligned: Abbr. : NEUT (Neutral)
65. Common odds ending : ONE. Oh like 10 to 1.
71. L.A.'s __ Center : AON
73. __ test : BETA
74. Slips into : DONS
75. Throughout : DURING
82. Colorful bird : TANAGER
83. Bobby's "Dallas" wife : PAMELA. Certain old TV just does not appeal to me. "Dallas" is one of them.
84. Mtg. : CONF
85. William the pirate : KIDD
86. Singer Peeples : NIA
87. Score symbol : CLEF
88. Cutting-edge company? : X-ACTO
91. __ Lackawanna Railway : ERIE. The clues feel extra tough today.
93. Like some tires : BALD
94. Brayer group? : ASSES
100. Old-style street show : RAREE
102. Traveler's insurance?: Abbr. : TSA. Because they insure that you travel safely?
103. Really got into : DUG
109. Nearly wipes out : DECIMATES
115. Arabian Peninsula nation : OMAN
116. One way to stand : ALONE. Or APART.
118. Aforementioned : SAID
119. Spanish castle city : LORCA. Must be a gimme for Splynter. He knows all about castles.
120. Smartphone function : EMAIL
121. __ balls: chocolaty snacks : OREO
122. 1979 disco classic : YMCA
123. Teutonic town : STADT
124. Aladdin's helper : GENIE
125. Seine tributary : OISE
Down:
1. Some power producers : DAMS
2. Asian nurse : AMAH.
Lots of Amahs in Hong Kong are from the Philippines. They speak English
and their salary requirement is reasonable. Perfect for expats working
there.
3. Sweater letter : ZETA
4. Lets off the hook : EXEMPTS
5. "Okay to proceed?" : SHALL I?
6. Point on a mall map? : HERE. You Are Here.
7. Writing supplies : INKS
8. Car radio features : PRESETS
9. Spot order? : SIT. And 117D. Spot order? : BEG
10. Cabo locale : BAJA
11. "East of Eden" son : ARON. The other son is Cal. Both love the same girl.
12. Office phone button : LINE TWO
13. Is omniscient : SEES ALL
14. Staff members: Abbr. : ASSTS
15. Makes new plans for : RE-DESIGNS
16. Visual layer : UVEA
17. Take in : BILK
18. Swell pair? : ELLS.
24. Calico call : MEOW
28. Animated TV barkeep : MOE. "The Simpsons" .
29. "Man on the Moon" group : REM
32. Reinforce : SHORE UP
34. Peddled stuff : WARES
35. Hockey Hall of Famer Francis : EMILE. Another fill for Splynter. Never heard of the guy.
36. Singing? : NAMING NAMES. Great entry/clue.
37. Clothes : TOGS
38. Only pres. born in Missouri : HST
39. Japanese pufferfish for risk-taking eaters : FUGU. Alien to me as well.
40. U.K. decorations : OBEs
42. Antenna pickup : RADIO SIGNAL
43. Company infamous for shredding : ENRON
44. "Funny Girl" composer : STYNE (Jule)
48. Port-of-Spain's island : TRINIDAD
51. Airport city near Montreal : MIRABEL. Wiki told me it's home to the Montréal–Mirabel International Airport.
52. Paycheck reduction for most : STATE TAX
54. Joined the cast of : ACTED IN
56. Shock : ASTOUND
58. One of two N.T. books : COR. Corinthians.
59. Harrison of the stage : REX
60. History course topics : ERAS
61. Pin cushion? : MAT And 71. Watchdog org.? : ASPCA. Nailed both.
63. Just around the corner : NEAR
67. Old verb ending : ETH
68. Talk about sin, in a way : CONFESS
69. "Star Trek" spinoff, briefly : TNG
70. Gun lobby gp. : NRA
72. Whitish gems : OPALS
76. Sam of "The Piano" : NEILL. Holly Hunter was amazing in that movie.
77. "Six Days of the Condor" author James : GRADY. Saw the movie "Three Days of Condor". Not familiar with the author.
79. Some ballot items : REFERENDA
80. Twice tetra- : OCTA
81. Oak or elm : WOOD. Not TREE.
82. Top-__: best : TIER
85. Optima, e.g. : KIA
89. Got really full : ATE A LOT. Still not my old self, but my appetite has returned. Gosh, this flu is stubborn. A special "Thank you" to reader Sandy in LA for her cold/flu remedy tea.
90. Aptly named coffee lightener : CREMORA. Never used it. Google showed Borden Cremora and Nestle Cremora. So "Cremora" is a common word, not a brand?
92. Colts' former home : RCA DOME. Demolished in 2008.
93. Bete noire : BUGABOO
95. Unfortunate : SAD
97. Itinerary entry: Abbr. : ETD
98. Fit for consumption : EDIBLE
99. Vaporous : FUMY. Have you seen this word before, Yellowrocks? I'm so glad your son helped you set up the trees & curtains.
101. Muscat money : RIALS
104. More than curious : NOSY. I'm thankful Terry Gross is nosy at times.
105. Sunni leader : IMAM
106. Of the flock : LAIC
107. Backed up, in a way : ON CD. Passé.
108. Bar order : NEAT
110. Actor McGregor : EWAN
111. Second-century date : CLII. 152.
112. Spelling on TV : TORI
113. Woolly moms : EWES
114. Wild plum : SLOE
Happy Birthday to Windhover, who was once an active member of our blog. Hope you and Irish are doing well and enjoying the hard but bucolic life.
C.C.
Morning, all (and Happy Birthday to Windhover)!
ReplyDeleteThis one was just too much for me. I never figured out exactly what was going on with the theme, thinking it was basically just puns. As a result, I had MATE MARKET instead of DATE MARKET (as well as FAZE instead of DAZE).
Aside from the theme, however, there were just way too many geographic answers that I didn't know or couldn't get from the clues, as well as a bunch of unknown names such as GRADY, KIDD, GANT and STYNE. I finally had to turn on the red-letter help and start guessing random letters to finish the GANT/STEIN section.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one took the full allotted time. Favorite answer: GRATE EXPECTATIONS. Nice to see old friends RAREE and AMAH again. They've been hiding recently.
My dyslexia was going full steam this morning. I read it "Hokey Hall of Frances Farmer."
Amazingly, MIRABEL came floating up from some nether region. Never saw that name for a pufferfish before. I've read that if it's incorrectly prepared, it can be immediately fatal.
My old standby rule failed me today. Four-letter Spanish River = EBRO. Five-letter Spanish walled city = AVILA. I had to Wite-Out AVILA in order to see the correct answers in Texas.
DECIMATE is an interesting word. Originally it meant to kill every tenth man, not "nearly wipe out."
C.C., that SHIP is often spelled "Barque." And back in '98 Nestle acquired a large chunk of Borden, including the CREMORA brand.
Oops, made a note so I wouldn't forget, and then forgot anyway. Happy Birthday, Windy!
ReplyDeleteThe Week in Review:
ReplyDeleteM 6:05 T 7:09 W 6:59 T 8:45 F 13:20 S 19:53 S 43:10
Whew! I almost gave up on this one. After finally filling the NE corner I wasn't at all surprised not to hear the "TaDa". And I feared it was due to more than a mere typo. I changed SIRABEL/SSGT to MIRABEL/MSGT but that didn't do the trick. Then I changed RALEE ("ralley"?) to RAREE (what?) and the sound of music was heard across the land. A WAG but I'll take it.
In other news, I enjoyed Marti's puzzle on Friday and, of course, I went through the usual stages of grief on Saturday: Despair, Hope, Frustration, Relief.
See y'all next weekend.
The spelling changes preserving the sound was impressive on its own but to so symmetrically with the two letter boogie is awesome.
ReplyDeleteA challenging Sunday but entertaining.
Thanks to an old timer and C.C.
Happy birthday and many many more, Larry you are a gem.
ReplyDeleteBe well
Good Morning, C.C., and friends. A lazy, chilly Sunday morning.
ReplyDeleteThis will not count as one of my favorite puzzles. I got the theme (on the second pass) with MATE MARKET, which led me to know what to look for in the other theme answers.
There were just too many other unknowns or just plain "Meh" for me. Ships are BARKS? I wanted Yelps, or some sound that a dog make.
Hand up for Tree before WOOD. At least I understood the Wood answer.
I will not, however, Vent with Vehemence, so no RANTing or RAVing.
I also liked seeing Shock twice = DAZE and ASTOUND.
I misread the Point on a Mall Map as Point on a Small Map. My first thought, therefore, was Isle.
Happy Birthday, Windhover. Hope you and Irish have a fabulous day. I miss you on the blog.
In honor of 67-Down, here is today's QOD: The big print giveth and the small print taketh away. ~ Tom Waits (b. Dec. 7, 1949)
This was the toughest Sunday puzzle I can recall. Started out slow and never did pick up any speed. And the theme aspect of moving one letter over two places also completely eluded me. All were pretty good puns, so I was able to get them with varying numbers of perps, but couldn't suss out the common thread.
ReplyDeleteMirabel was in the NYT Sunday puzzle a couple weeks ago, so that was a big help. Other wags along the way were also a big boon. Got it done, but it took over an hour. A very good puzzle nonetheless.
I wish you a very happy Birthday, Windhover. And IIRC, it's also PK's birthday. I hope you are all right and wish you a good day as well. Both of you are missed.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a DNF because of Fugu/rage crossing as well Lorca/on CD. Caught the theme early on but not the letter shift consistency.
Thanks, Alan, for a pleasant Sunday work-out and thanks, CC, for the informative expo.
Happy Birthday, Windy; hope you enjoy a special day. We miss you.
Have a Super Sunday.
Good day, Puzzlers. Thank you so much, C.C. for showing the anagrammed answers. I got them but didn't "get" them.
ReplyDeleteWEES. This was a slow slog but I appreciate the cleverness of it. Barks as SHIPS was very witty though I agree, barque, is the usual spelling.
GANT/STYNE and STADT stymied me so DNF. Also it took way longer than my allotted time.
Wishing you a very happy birthday, Larry! I'm sure you and the Irish will celebrate accordingly. I miss you, too.
Have a great Sunday, everyone!
Good afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteWEES. Almost skipped it but upon seeing Olschwang as the constructor, I wanted to give it a try. (A name I remember from my first days of doing puzzles.)
CREMORA - I eschew Cremora because I found it gives me heartburn. In coffee, I take just a few drops of 2% milk, or drink it black.
DAM - The dam holds back the water to make power. Power is produced by the hydro-electric turbine generators emplaced at the end of descending penstocks in the dam or externally so as to discharge to the lowest possible tailwater in the stream below the dam.
Kind of a loose clue like the tide thing yesterday.
Welcome aboard to Rainman.
Happy Birthday Windhover. Hope you are doing well.
This took quite a while. I was defeated in the NW by DATE MARKET instead of MATE. Of course, I couldn't anagram DATE and resorted to red letters. The M suggested DAMS, then DAZE and ZETA, so one red letter help.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Larry. I miss your posts.
CC, I have heard of FUMY, but thought of it as informal. Apparently it is a standard adjective.
I wasn't at all surprised to find BARK spelled with a K.
"HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand, from 1769 to 1771."
SAIL ON, SAIL ON by Thomas Moore
ReplyDeleteSail on, sail on, thou fearless BARK --
Where'er blows the welcome wind,
It cannot lead to scenes more dark,
More sad than those we leave behind.
Each wave that passes seems to say,
"Though death beneath our smile may be,
Less cold we are, less false than they,
Whose smiling wreck'd thy hopes and thee."
Sail on, sail on -- through endless space --
Through calm -- through tempest -- stop no more:
The stormiest sea's a resting-place
To him who leaves such hearts on shore.
Or -- if some desert land we meet,
Where never yet false-hearted men
Profaned a world, that else were sweet --
Then rest thee, bark, but not till then.
Since I started this puzzle in a grumpy mood, I figured it was just me, but apparently this puzzle was more of a challenge than usual for the Sunday solvers. Turned on the red letters after 40 minutes to take out the errors; turned them back off and ran through again; turned them back on and still had to go letter by letter. Spent over an hour on it.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Alan. I'm sure that technically it's a wonderful puzzle, but I'm still feeling grumpy. Maybe some lunch will help.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alan and CC! Lot of work.
Another red-letter day for me. And the most difficult LAT Sunday puzzle that I have ever seen.
Good to see old friend RAREE. Didn't know GANT, ARON, AON, MIRABEL, EMILE, LORCA, STYNE. Figured out PAMELA from the PA.
Happy belated birthday to Lucina! Hope that you had a piece of chocolate cake!! Happy birthday Windover, wherever you are!
Feel better today. But head is ver foggy.
Cheers!
Happy Sunday! Wow! This puzzle was a little too hard for me to complete comfortably but I still liked it. I had even more trouble at the bottom with too many words I didn't know, couldn't suss out and not enough crossing letters to help. I agree with D-O that DECIMATE means to kill every tenth person in an army. Like so many words, it has been misused so often that it's meaning has become changed.
ReplyDeleteWindhover, I hope you stop by again. I miss your intelligent slant on things.
We got a Christmas tree yesterday. It will be delivered today. The nursery puts a fresh cut on the tree and fits it with a stand so the tree is perpendicular to the floor. It's been kept in water in its stand and will be fresh. We find it's worth the extra money, especially since we don't have to get down on the floor to get it straight in our own stand.
We also bought Jordan a bicycle for Christmas yesterday. That will be something fun for Grandpa and Jordan to do together.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteTechnical DNF today due to NSPCA instead of ASPCA. Oops. Otherwise, it was a real workout, but what detailed themage! This must have taken ages to construct. Styne was a complete unknown, but Gant came from a less-used cranial cranny, and Raree came back from some long ago crossword.
Hello C.C., in the past I've read up on barks/barques and barkentines, as well as brigs, with a view to trying to keep them straight. No can do. The differences among some of those old sailing rigs are just too hard to remember and categorize. I'm more at home with the smaller craft.
A few of us neighbors got together today to aid a pair of recently widowed sisters who had fallen behind in farm chores. There's a cold north wind, but the sun is bright and the soil still workable - not a bad day for agriculture. We intend to hoist some ales later on in celebration of our righteousness. :-)
Re: East of Eden: Cal and Aron are analogous to Cain and Abel. Their father is Adam Trask.
ReplyDeleteThere's a pretty decent rom-com on TV now called Selfie whose main characters are Eliza Dooley and Henry Higgs. I wonder how many young viewers miss the rather obvious allusion.
I concede bark is accepted spelling, but new to me, only knew barque. To me that's part of the beauty of crosswords, though - hoping to see enough that you know that you can figure out what you don't.
ReplyDeleteOn that note, can someone please explain 18D - SWELL PAIR=ELLS? CC, in your writeup the two Ls are colored purple, and there's a period after ELLS.,as in an abbreviation, though there's nothing I can see in the clue to so indicate. Huh?
Thanks.
By the way, I too thought FUMY was a made up word - "Boy, it sure is fumy in here".
There are two "ELLS" (i.e. the letter "L") in the word "swell".
ReplyDeleteI also thought FUMY was a made-up word but I was confident that Yellowrocks would set us straight.
DAZE, FAZE, TAZE cost me one bad cell on Alan’s big time Sunday challenge. Working late due to grandchild visit.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-My daughter met new husband on match.com
-I too enjoyed old friends AMAH and RAREE
-First of 12 wasn’t PETER
-Nice view from the RIM of this extinct volcano
-His RAGE-filled RANTS got him fired
-NEUT. – Tin and I are of Swiss heritage
-In the Farmer In The DELL, the cheese stands ALONE
-These events usually feature the YMCA
-Have seen the ad where the GENIE gives a guy a million bucks
-Some peeps got EXEMPTED from Obama Care
-We use 5 of the 36 PRESETS on our radio
-New plans for milk jugs
-Said Simple Simon to the pieman, let me taste your WARE
-He wouldn’t NAME NAMES
-Some athletes like playing in FL and TX where there is no STATE TAX
-HBD, Windy!
Thanks, LR. The letter L spelled out. For some reason I almost never see that, at least not right away. Will try harder to remember for next time.
ReplyDeleteA bark is a type of smaller boat with 3 or more masts with sails; usually not large enough to be considered a ship.
ReplyDelete1D Power producers could be DAMS which would make 23A MATE market!
ReplyDeleteBV Ahlers said...
ReplyDelete"1D Power producers could be DAMS which would make 23A MATE market!"
Ya think?
A real slow drudge for me. I also had DATEMARKET and FAZE. Took me waaay toooo long. In the end I had a couple of other mistakes and never got the theme as well. I think doing puzzles the old-fashioned way (newspaper and Erasermate pen, for me, because I can put it down and go back later)... tends to slow me down. I'd like to find a good way to do them online. Shopping around. Yes, happy natal anniversary, Windhover!
ReplyDeleteRainman said...
ReplyDeleteI'd like to find a good way to do them online.
Try the Mensa site.
Rainman -
ReplyDeleteor web crosswords.com, then click on LA Times Crossword. There are several others available there too. In Hawaii I get each day's puzzle in the afternoon of the previous day.
Lime Rickey @ 6:13
ReplyDeleteWas that necessary ?
Hello All,
ReplyDeleteA little late to the dance, since I won't see this puzzle till late tomorrow evening. Tomorrow is my youngest son's 42nd b-day, so the the party that started Friday night will be extended on more night.
Thanks to C. C. for remembering my birthday, and thanks to the rest of you for your very kind compliments. It's greatly appreciated.
I still read every blog, and since
Dammit, almost 6 years and I still can't do this right. The iPhone keyboard locked up and I had to publish and then start a new post.
ReplyDeleteAs I was (trying to) saying, I still read every blog, but since I still don't have a computer (no broadband in this backwater) I have to rely on the Irish to print and bring them home and it's often 2-3 days later if she's working out of the office. Normally, as many of you know, I solve the puzzle the evening of the publication date.
But (again, as many of you know) puzzle analysis and/or criticism has never interested me as other than a spectator sport, so I've had little to contribute the past several months. I do enjoy reading your comments.
Thanks again for the b-day wishes and the nice shout-outs.
Larry
BTW, this birthday for me was what used to be known here as "Jeannie's number".
Lime Rickey, thanks for your faith in me. I happen to have my own unique take on unusual words.
ReplyDeleteAs I said yesterday, the meaning of SEMI used in a novel I am reading to refer to a type of a residence was new to me. I love meeting new words or new forms of words like that in novels and crosswords. Rather than suspecting them as made up or not quite legitimate, I research them, try to find their origins, and look for examples of their use in print. That way I increase my vocabulary and make the new word more memorable.
I am finding my avid interest in novels about the exploits of the Royal Navy under sail has frequently been of use in crossword solving, for example, BARK today. I read many of those novels with an online dictionary or Google at hand.
-From an incorrigible logophyle.
Cremora is a brand. It was created by Borden, but they sold some of their international business in 1998 to Nestle, which now controls the Cremora brand in the Middle East and Africa.
ReplyDeleteTime spent on today's puzzle left me with no GREAT EXPECTATIONS and soon turned to red-letter help on a RESCUE MISSION.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite clue was "Members of a trendsetting family?"
We have wanted to visit the HST Presidential Museum and Library, in Independence, MO, and just haven't got around to it. We've been to DDE Presidential Museum and Library, in Abilene, KS, several times over the years.
Remembering the young men who died on Pearl Harbor Day. My 92 yr. old uncle has just started to talk about his service in the Japanese Islands during WWII. He was there for 3 1/2 yrs and was the radio man. He was always on the HAM radio when I was a child and I never associated it with his military service.
Happy Birthday, Windhover! Hope you had a good one!
Didn't even have time for a puzzle today said...
ReplyDeleteHBD Windhover!
Cheers, -T
BTW, did anybody explain why Jones is a trendsetting family? I know I'm going to feel silly but I didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteAh! As in "Keeping up with the Joneses?" It just hit me while I was typing. Never mind...