Theme: Today - The end of winter prediction.
41A. What we'll have of 3-Down, according to folklore, if 18-Across 62-Down sees his 50-Down on 65-Across : SIX MORE WEEKS. The most referential clue I think I've seen. I'll list them in order.
3D. Cold season : WINTER
18A. Pennsylvania borough in today's news : PUNXSUTAWNEY
62D. Given name of the critter in today's news : PHIL
50D. Sundial casting : SHADOW
65A. February 2, every year : GROUNDHOG DAY
Argyle and Phil here and a whimsical puzzle from a new constructor. On Groundhog Day(today), if Phil(the groundhog) sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an "early spring". If he's smart, he won't poke even his nose out this morning.
Across:
1. Burst into tears : BAWL
5. Wander off the point : RAMBLE
11. Rainy : WET
14. Hodgepodge : OLIO
15. In the plane's cabin, say : ONBOARD
17. New Year's __ : EVE
20. Clinton's instrument : SAX. (saxophone)
21. Ambulance VIP : EMT. (emergency medical technician)
22. '50s nuclear experiments : A-TESTS
23. Founded, on signs : ESTD.(established)
25. Foe : ENEMY
27. Approved, briefly : OK'D
29. Pop singer Diamond : NEIL
31. Henry VIII's sixth wife Catherine : PARR. The last of his wives, she married him on 12 July 1543, and outlived him.
32. Conk out : DIE
35. "Make up your mind!" : "YES OR NO!"
37. Germany's __ Republic, 1919-'33 : WEIMAR. Weimar was the city where the constitutional assembly took place. Wiki
40. Flip-flops : THONGS. Do you know whose these are?
43. Puppies : WHELPS
45. Bahamas capital : NASSAU
46. Thick fog metaphor : PEA SOUP
48. Dirt road groove : RUT
49. Amt. on a new car window : MSRP. (manufacturer's suggested retail price)
53. Venus de __ : MILO
54. Mess of hair : MOP
56. Employee handing out playbills : USHER
57. Stoolie : FINK
59. Workshop grippers : CLAMPS
63. Word after Iron or Stone : AGE
64. Corp. leader : CEO. (chief executive officer) and 7D. Corp. execs' degrees : MBAs. (Master of Business Administration)
68. Coffee hour vessel : URN
69. Asian language in a region famous for tigers : BENGALI. "...if called by a panther,
don't anther."
70. __ vault : POLE
71. Letter before tee : ESS
72. La Brea discovery : FOSSIL
73. Filled with wonder : AWED
Down:
1. Girl who lost her sheep : BO PEEP
Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find them;
Leave them alone,
And they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.
2. Barnard graduate : ALUMNA. Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college in NYC and one of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, it has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900.
4. Bagel go-with : LOX
5. Landslide victory : ROUT
6. Poker pot starter : ANTE
8. Bend before in reverence : BOW TO
9. Lucky Luciano cohort Meyer __ : LANSKY. Known as the "Mob's Accountant", Lansky was never found guilty of anything more serious than illegal gambling. Which reminds me, how did you do on the big game?
10. Before, in poetry : ERE
11. Cowboy movies : WESTERNS
12. Shirking, as taxes : EVADING
13. LBJ's home state : TEX. (Texas)
16. Salon coloring : DYE
19. Speak : SAY
24. Sweetie pie : SNOOKUMS. In 1904, 'The Newlyweds', a newspaper comic strip, was about an elegant young couple and their baby, Snookums.
26. Dennis the Menace's grumpy neighbor : MR. WILSON
28. Hate : DETEST
30. Part of UCLA : LOS. (University of California, Los Angeles)
32. Chinese appetizer : DIM SUM
33. "I think ...," in texts : IMO. (in my opinion)
34. Make, as money : EARN
36. Mets' old stadium : SHEA
38. Old Montreal baseballer : EXPO
39. Back : REAR
41. Flippered aquarium attractions : SEA LIONS
42. Sch. with a Spokane campus : WSU. (Washington State University)
43. Typist's stat. : WPM. (words per minute)
44. Some young cows : HEIFERS
47. Pennsylvania raceway : POCONO. Known as the Tricky Triangle.
51. Entertain in style : REGALE
52. Victimized, with "on" : PREYED
55. Outlet inserts : PLUGS
56. GI show gp. : USO. (United Service Organizations)
58. USSR secret service : KGB. (komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti)
60. Santa __: West Coast winds : ANAs
61. 1551, to Caesar : MDLI
64. Billiards stick : CUE
66. NBA official : REF. (referee)
67. Dean's list no. : GPA. (grade point average)
Argyle
48 comments:
Morning, all!
Pats won last night, which is nice. We're buried under snow and ice again, which isn't so nice...
I got the theme right off the bat today, but this was still a slower than average Monday solve for me. No idea whatsoever how to actually spell PUNXSUTAWNEY, and the crossing of the (to me) obscure LANSKY didn't help much. It also took awhile to dredge WHELPS out of cerebral storage this morning. I wanted to put in WHELKS, although I know that isn't right.
If the weather in PA is anything like it is here, I don't think we need to worry about Phil seeing his shadow (or anything else) this morning...
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. Fun and easy Ground Hog Day puzzle. The hardest part was having to spell PUNXSUTAWNEY. I like theme puzzles that fall on a special day like this.
It's overcast here, but then again it was nearly 75F yesterday, so hopefully no more winter.
Desper-otto, we spent a lovely weekend in Houston. The Manet exhibit at the Fine Arts Museum is well work seeing.
QOD: Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. ~ Ayn Rand (Feb. 2, 1905 ~ Mar. 6, 1982)
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Warren Stabler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Wow! What a great puzzle for Ground Hog Day! Loved it!
Got PUNXSUTAWNEY right off the bat. My PA place is just north of there.
The rest of the theme just filled in as fast as I could write.
The movie Ground Hog Day was filmed in Woodstock, IL, just north of where I live in Illinois. Spooky.
Got LANSKY after a couple letters.
SNOOKUMS was easy. I do not believe I have ever used that word myself.
In mid Indiana right now. Lots of snow on the ground.
Read on Cruciverb where Bernice Gordon passed away. What an icon she was in our little corner of the world. 101 years is a good life.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
GRRR Morning
Another storm raging, this one bringing lots of ice along with the snow. It was a pretty nice winter up to last Monday. But what the heck, we're hardy (but aging) New Englanders.
Fun puzzle today, thank you Warren.
OK, other than Pa residents, who among us got
PUNXATAWNEY without heavy reliance on perps? For sure, it "weren't me"
Plow service has cleared the driveway, so it's time for the in-house service to clear the walkways. Both will need to be cleared again when it ends. UGH!
Good morning!
Isn't it serendipitous that PUNXUTAWNEY and GROUND HOG DAY have the same number of letters? Very nice Monday puzzle. Thanx, Warren Stabler.
Every time I see or hear BO PEEP I'm reminded of this oldie-goldie from 1952 It's In The Book.
Hahtoolah, glad you enjoyed your weekend. I think you meant the Monet exhibit which closed yesterday. Now and then MFAH get's some very nice traveling exhibits. Their own collection isn't too shabby, either.
WPM reminds me of my high school days. After getting thrown out of Biology for the year, the only course available in our little school was Commercial Typing. I was assigned an old manual Royal. I could bang out about 70 WPM, even taking off 10 WPM for every error. Couldn't do that today.
Big Easy, please shoot me an email about that $20K error by AARP Tax-Aide. Every volunteer has to pass the IRS Advanced exam yearly to stay in the program. I can't imagine how that could've happened. The product is only as good as the people providing it, but each return is prepared by a volunteer and accuracy-checked by a second volunteer. If one makes an error, the second is almost sure to catch it. At Block or Hewitt, you're relying on the expertise of just one, often seasonal, employee.
Ugh! Snow Day today. Getting hit pretty good.
There's an N & S in Punxsutawney? Who knew?
The rest fell rather quickly.
For my Fellow Patriots Fans
Well BG you were, sadly for all of you up north, wrong; Phil saw his shadow.
We have another bout of Florida winter coming, getting intot he 50's at night.
Puzzle was very cute, lots of intials but a fun tribute. If he had worked Bill Murray into the puzzle it would have been awesome.
Be safe in the snow.
Argyle: The picture with THONGS is one pixel x 1 pixel. Sorta hard to make out. But THONGS for trying anyway.
Also WINTER isn't highlighted on the grid. But again, thanks very much for highlighting. It always makes the arrangement of theme entries much clearer!
Good Morning:
Clever and timely puzzle with a bit of a bite for a Monday. Thanks, WS and Argyle for a nice, easy start to the week.
The snow just keeps falling; pretty to look at but I'm glad I don't have to shovel it. All of the schools and colleges are closed and the roads look quite dicey. Didn't get my newspaper, either. Oh well, it's winter!
Have a great (and safe) day.
Musings
-Good news – a fun puzzle. Bad news
-8” of snow and everything shut down here makes Phil a prophet
-BAWL – activity for Seahawk fans last night after great Super Bowl
-Didja ever one of these YES/NO notes?
-The DETESTED WEIMAR Republic was a launching pad for Hitler
-Some “in-demand” cars sell for over the MSRP
-Now here’s a POLE vaulter
-Al Capone PLUGS a lot of people but got prison for EVADING taxes
-The defunct EXPOS are now these guys
-Read ya later, off to the dentist. I think they’re open.
Good morning everyone.
Apt theme today. Only hiccup was getting PUNXSUTAWNEY spelt right. Similarly with PARR. Perps straightened them out. Otherwise easy; no searches needed.
Had a whole lunch of DIM SUM once in Toronto. Excellent.
I think borough is the Pennsylvania legal term for 'town'. (NY uses 'town')
Have a good day.
This is enough BS to make me give up puzzles!
Good morning everyone!
Hand up for relying heavily on perps to spell PUNX********
Too much snow to deal with today - but it's better than the slushy mix you guys are getting, hondo!
Hello, puzzlers.
WEES. A nice GROUNDHOG DAY puzzle and like others had to suss out the spelling of PUNXSUTAWNEY. Clever of Warren to fit that in the grid.
My sister is staying with me and she's up so off I go.
Have yourselves a lovely Monday, everyone!
It's got to be a bad sign when you come out of your hole, & can't see your newspaper....
WEES about spelling PUNXSUTAWNEY. Pennsylvania was prominent today with POCONO also. Great theme for the day. WHELPS was fun on a Monday!
Ontario has Wiarton Willie and he predicted an early spring. We can only hope, as we currently have 3 ft. of snow and still blowing. Can you describe whiteouts as being like PEA SOUP? A trip to NASSAU looks appealing right now.
I had to wait for perps to decide on POLE vault (wanted BANK at first). Son did some POLE vaulting in high school. I did NOT go to watch him fling himself over the bar, but he emerged unharmed!
Youngest grandchild is now crawling and PLUGS must be protected.
Enjoy the day. I think we can cross-country ski out the back door this afternoon.
I truly enjoyed the puzzle today. There was a lot more emphasis on holidays and special seasons during my teaching days than in retirement, so I found the theme enjoyable.
We came to the NW Chicago suburbs to see our ten year old granddaughter compete in gymnastics yesterday but ended up staying today because school is cancelled due to all the snow. What a treat to get the extra time with the girls. They have included us in Minecraft (not a big fan) and a snap circuits learning kit. The circuit board has snap- in connections to see how electrical circuits work. I am a fan of that. It says for ages 8 to 108 and I qualify!
Thanks for the write up, Argyle!
Argyle: Nice write-up and links.
As for the game, I watched Downton Abbey, then saw the last 2 minutes and lost One Dollar "Cold-Cash-American."
Warren: Thank you for a FUN Monday puzzle. Exceptional debut!
I've helped many Corporate Clients "Avoid Taxes" ... EVADING though is a felony and "not my style."
THONGS are my favorite footwear ... but I like going barefoot on the beach the best!
Raining here ... makes for a perfect day to finish my packing.
Cheers!
What a delightful GROUNDHOG DAY puzzle, many thanks, Warren! I'm from Pennsylvania, so got the theme right away. Liked seeing another PA clue, POCONO, in the puzzle as well. Also enjoyed the college references, Barnard, WSU, and GPA, on the one hand, and the cartoon refs, SNOOKUMS and MR. WILSON, on the other. Thanks for including the SNOOKUMS cartoon, Argyle!
February 2 is also James Joyce's birthday--probably long before we started recognizing GROUNDHOG Day.
Have a great day, everybody, and let's hope Phil's prediction is wrong!
Greetings!
Great theme puzzle, Warren! Nice review, Santa!
Had trouble spelling PUNXSUTAWNEY, but, no other problems.
Dentist again today. Ugh.
Cheers!
If the cartoon "Non Sequiter" is to be believed, we should all be eating sausages today. After all, it is Ground Hog Day.
How much ground
Would a groundhog hog
If a groundhog
Could hog ground?
If a groundhog could hog ground
A groundhog would hog
As much ground as a ground hog could hog
If a groundhog could hog ground.
[Everybody knows that a groundhog and a woodchuck are the same thing, right?]
Grid looked 'off' in my paper this morning. Thought it might have been stretched by formatting software. Then I realized it had 16 'across squares'. There are 'helper squares' on either side of SIXMOREWEEKS, so I assume that is the reason for the variation?
Never would have noticed, cared nor understood this before following this blog for awhile. Thanks.
Well 14 abbrevs (23a counts as one) on a monday??? Whelps , dimsum, good monday answers.
Very, very easy Monday outing. Read 41A and filled in accordingly right off the bat. Everything fell easily into place. The only thing I waited for, like everyone else, was the correct spelling of PUNXSUTAWNEY.
It's a rainy here today on Florida's West Coast. At least we don't have to worry about snow.
HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!
Hi gang -
Timely puzzle. Nice for a Monday.
Theme answers were giveaways, but I guess that's unavoidable.
Punx . . . whatevah.
Everybody is going to remember the nightmare of the last 30 seconds of last night's superflop.
But the real reason it came down to that, and the hated Patriots won the game, is that the No.1 Seahawks defense had no answer for Tom
Brady's short passes. He completed a Superb Owl record 37 passes for 328 yards.
That's 8.9 yards per catch. Even if there's only 2-3 YaC, that's a paltry 5 to 6 yards per completion.
Thirty-seven times. My hat's off to Julian Edelman, whose key catches repeatedly kept the patriots moving.
Brady walked off with the MVP award, but Edelman gets my vote. No Edelman, they lose. It's that simple.
BTW - Loath the cheating Pats and can't stand Brady. But they had a winning game plan, so reluctant congrats.
Cool regards!
JzB
Jazz - I have to disagree with your simple breakdown of last night's great game. First, though, let me state that I am not a fan of Bill Belichek, Tom Brady or the Patriots. But let it be known that edelman will be a forgotten footnote in the annals of superbowldom. Tom Brady deserves the MVP.
Unlike the other great super bowl quarterbacks, Tom Brady has never been surrounded by Hall of Fame quality weapons. Think about it. Joe Montana had Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Dwight Clark and more. Troy Aikmen had Emmitt, Irvin, Novacek and that incredible offensive line. Bradshaw had Franco, Swann, Stallworth, Rocky and Webster. I could go on and on. But Brady has four rings and I can't name any of his supporting cast that were there for all of them, let alone ANY that are going to be in HOF(other than maybe gronk if he plays for 7 more years). My point? Brady makes everyone around him champions, not the other way around. There are over 70 receivers, other than Edelman, in the NFL that could have caught Brady's pinpoint passes. It was Belichek's scheme and Brady's execution that let Edelman rack up all those easy yards.
P.S. Why all the hate? I had thought you had turned over a new leaf....
Barry G: Yes.
Abejo
Darn, I was analien...maybe later when I get home.
Good afternoon all,
WEES about Punxataney, but we all knew it and enjoyed this fun puzzle.Only other glitch was calling Mr. Wilso , Mr Ollson??? I know, there must be cobwebs in there insread of dendrites.
Al and Chris,appreciated your take on T. Brady. I'm not a fan either, but can see that the whole team needed to play well to win this one. It is true tah Joe Montana had superb players to make him look great... and he was great.
Kids in line...must go
JD... not an alien
Happy Groundhog Day! This was an easy puzzle. I got the theme right away and finished in good Monday time. Thanks, Warren Stabler and Argyle.
I have no interest in football; I watch the Superbowl for the commercials. I lost interest at half-time and switched to "The Golden Girls" reruns.
We had rain yesterday. Family in Michigan got 16"-20" of snow. They can have it.
Stay safe and warm if you're affected by the storm.
Pat
Jazzb said
"Loath the cheating Pats and can't stand Brady."
First of all do you LOATHE them, really? And who has proved that they "cheated"? My respect for you has considerably diminished with your assumptions and false claims.
Before the days of Meteorologists, I worked as a television weatherman with a magnet board and wooden pointer. Things like 'blue moons', 'solstice's' and 'Groundhog Day' were more important than isobars and low pressure systems.
I totally forgot Groundhog Day one year. The next day the boss called me into the office and said: "We've been getting calls about you. Now close the door and take a seat."
February 2nd has been bittersweet ever since.
What a perfect puzzle for the day ! Thank you Warren Stabler and Argyle.
Spent most of the day cleaning up after the snowfall. 5th greatest in Chicago history, but probably wouldn't break the top 20 for those of you on the east sides of the Great Lakes or in the Northeast.
Abejo, you beat me to the Woodstock reference.
Michigan based Art Van Furniture ran a sales promotion for their Chicago area stores, and lost big on their bet. The total cost of purchase would be refunded to anyone that bought furniture on four specified days in January, if we got 3" of snow at O'Hare on Feb 1st. Officially measured 19.3" at the once-named Orchard Field. ~ $2.4M will be returned. The largest single purchase was $16,000.
My BIL's family was from PUNXSUTAWNEY. My dad called my BIL PUNXSUTAWNEY Bill.
D-O, 12 letters, but not the way you spelled it. :>) No way I would ever challenge you on some of the spellings and pronunciations of some of the places in your home state.
Not a fan of Belichick, Brady or the Patriots organization, especially after Spygate. Giving the Patriots their due, but this one will probably be remembered more so for the way the Seahawks lost more than that the Patriots won. It was a pretty good game until the last 30 seconds. It will probably be rated # 1 for "Biggest Superbowl Coaching gaffes" or some such.
Must be the day for dental appointments. DW is at ours now. I've vowed to quit scheduling appointments in winter.
The Patriots have been cheating for decades, in a variety of ways. Anyone who pays close attention to pro football is aware of this.
It goes at least back to the snow plow incident against the Dolphins, many years ago, and spying on their opponents more recently. Under-inflated balls might seem trivial, but it's part of a well established pattern. And they would have buried the Colts anyway.
It's not a matter of win at any cost as much as it is lack of character in the organization.
If that diminishes anyone's respect for me, then so be it. You probably didn't know me anyway. And you certainly don't know the NE Pats.
That's why the hate.
And I made a typo in a blog post.
Gosh, I sure am sorry for that.
But my point wasn't to dis Brady, certainly one of the greatest QBs of all time, my contempt not withstanding - who, BTW had a great many errant passes last night, but to praise Edelman, who bailed him out on more than one occasion.
Have a nice February, everyone.
JzB
Jazz
I agree with your 6:03 comment.
Spygate was proven and way back then they lost "Draft Picks."
That was the proof.
oops ... I meant Jazz's 6:04 pm comment.
And Joe Montana was 4 and 0 in Super Bowls.
The lapdog speaks.
Wow, jazz doubles down on his 'hate' speech.
I guess your mother never taught you the 'thumper theory'. Why, knowing of the abundance of respected and admired patriot fans here on the blog, decide to use this forum to spew forth your acerbic opinion? Do you have an axe to grind with our northeast contingent? You could have simply stated that you were unhappy with the outcome of the game because you are not a fan of the winning team and left it at that. But no, you had to go your own way, have you broken any homes up lately? Just five minutes...whoops, sorry, got off on a tangent there.
Next time you wish to display your hatred towards anything, please use your own personal blog. There it won't offend us light hearted blog followers. Come to think of it, it might as well not hurt anyone's feelings, just like that proverbial tree falling in that forest where no one is listening.
Question, How was the Snow plow incident cheating? There were no rules against it. It wasn't a covert act done in secret. The refs and the
rest of the world were right there watching.
The snow plow is proudly displayed in Foxboro. Snow plow/Tractor
Hi all!
A fun, easy, puzzle to USHER in Monday. I liked the apropos theme. WEES said re: spelling 18a . Thanks Warren and Argyle, yous got me out of my DNF RUT.
I didn't read 2d as Barn(y)ard this time...
Many MBA CEOs run companies into the ground by being penny-wise and pound-foolish...
Mmmm, DIM SUM - a friend from Hong Kong (his family left when he was 7) always takes us to hole-in-the wall Asian places with great food.
TTP - Mattress Mac in HOU, TEX is running a deal like that. Buy >$7k in furniture and get your money back if oil is >$85/barrel on 31 Dec. Last year he gave money back because the Astros won more than 90 games.
I can't REF the spat above. I was tutoring eldest in algebra so I only watched about 4 minutes of the game (end of 1st 1/2 and last minute). Turned out, that's all I needed to know around the water-cooler.
Cheers, -T
My point of view: The Seahawks lost the Super Bowl, the Patriot's didn't win it.
Barry G. - I looked it up, you and Abejo are right. So I guess WPM is WOODCHUCKed per minute today... [Geico ad]. C, -T
My Superbowl response: Taken as a whole, Pete Carroll is a mediocre coach. He did great things at USC but there were some questions about Reggie Bush's eligibility. Did Carroll know? Dunno. Yesterday, he made one great call going for a TD instead of a field goal at the end of the first half. Then he decides to pass instead of an almost sure-fire running play at the end of the game. So he's one-for-two in yesterday's game decisions. Fifty percent. O' course, I'm 100 percent in my play calling with the benefit of hindsight. Pretty good, eh?
Groundhog Day is a really clever, enjoyable movie. I'd probably watch it again for the fourth or fifth time.
Bill G. - I think GROUNDHOG DAY, the movie, is a life metaphor - we go through the same s*** over and over until we learn and grow as a person. I've seen it MDLI times :-)
Otherwise, life is just a recurring dream [CUE Mother Goose & Grimm - you may have to hit the back-button to get to 2/2/15]. C, -T
Oh, and about the Big Game yesterday - it was all in the pre-kickoff show parody. An OLIO for fans w/ a sense of humor, insomnia, and a love of the pre-game... C, -T
Hi all you crossword wizards - this is Occasional Lurker from the heart of the United Arab Emirates - Ras Al Khaima - where all your oil dollars land up - ( although in much reduced prices nowadays ...) Where drivers make 80 USD bucks an hour - on a bad day. I traveled in one of the taxis and I was tempted to ask the driver for a tip !! ;->) - he was making more money than I was ...
I saw the puzzle by our own CC, on Sunday last ---- in the Ras Al Khaima Chronicle, the Dubai Daily and the Sharjah Sentinel and the Abu Dhabi Declaration - CC is the most important person here since Barrack whats his name.
Plus the Emir of Abu Dhabi, the Emir Mohammed ben Makhtoum has a deal for all the L A Crossowrd constructors - the great rulers here are tired of being caricatured in the LA Times crosswords - so they are willing to pay an anti-royalty provided their names are NOT in the 4 letter category ever. Thus the words ARAB, EMIR, AMIR etc etc shall be banned and remain TABU/ Taboo in the crosswords for the next 10 years. If interested the constructors are requested to contact the local UAE consul general and make a formal agreement. Payment shall in AED's Arab Emirate Dirhams - which is linked to the USD ( 3.69 AED = 1 USD ).
Actually I came here for the Tuesday solution - which I just solved involving ---- well, I better not let the cat out of the bag, just yeyt.
I don't know if any others are familiar with the stylings of the occasional lurker but i suspect it is our old friend, Vidwan. Welcome old friend.
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