Theme: What's your mood? - Colors from a mood ring, and they're all used as verbs in each theme entry.
17A. Give the okay : GREEN-LIGHT
27A. Bring lunch from home, say : BROWN-BAG
46A. Dismiss from the job : PINK-LIP
59A. Alter a manuscript, e.g. : BLUE-PENCIL
11D. Gloss over : WHITEWASH
34D. Ostracize : BLACKLIST
Argyle here with a new constructor. He has a few crunchy nuggets in there but given the ease of the theme, it's all good.
Across:
1. Norms: Abbr. : STDS. (Standards)
5. Channel with a "Congressional Chronicle" online archive : C-SPAN
10. In an unexpected direction : AWRY
14. Hawkeye State : IOWA
15. Curly-tailed Japanese dog : AKITA
16. Old conductance units : MHOs. The reciprocal of an ohm.
19. Trusted assistant : AIDE
20. Move it, old-style : HIE
21. Thames islands : AITs. Crosswordese.
22. Northern Ireland province : ULSTER
24. Leaves for a cigar : TOBACCO
26. Came up : AROSE
29. __-Mart Stores, Inc. : WAL
32. Walks leisurely : AMBLES
35. Christmastide : YULE
36. Boxing legend : ALI
37. Manicurist's tool : FILE
38. Tit for __ : TAT
39. Baking amts. : TSPs. (teaspoon)
40. Pie __ mode : À LA
41. "Never Wave at __": 1952 film : A WAC. Starring Rosalind Russell and Paul Douglas. I could link the whole movie but couldn't find a clip!
43. Tread water to check out the surroundings, as a whale : SPY HOP. Whale, tread water?
45. DVR button : REC
48. "Hogan's Heroes" colonel : KLINK
50. Oft-rented suits : TUXEDOS
54. Insert new film : RELOAD
56. Spice Girl Halliwell : GERI
57. One: Pref. : UNI
58. Settled on the ground : ALIT
62. Savior in a Bach cantata : JESU
63. Path for a drink cart : AISLE. Tinbeni clue?
64. Kitchenware brand : EKCO. Buy some NOW. Link
65. Play segments : ACTS
66. Like some private communities : GATED
67. Coloring agents : DYES
Down:
1. Vision : SIGHT
2. "Road __": 1947 Hope/Crosby film : TO RIO. Another old movie; this one starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour.
3. Nerdy sort : DWEEB
4. Enc. with some bills : SAE. (Self Addressed Envelope, no stamp)
5. Colorful cats : CALICOS. My favorites.
6. Chair lift alternative : SKI TOW
7. Sty residents : PIGS
8. Sports fig. : ATH. (athlete)
9. Kin of organic, at the grocery store : NATURAL
10. Stockpile : AMASS
12. Went by scooter : RODE
13. River of Flanders : YSER
18. Mother-of-pearl : NACRE
23. Theater box : LOGE
25. Equal to the task : ABLE
26. Border on : ABUT
28. New York City suburb on the Hudson : NYACK
 |
| Nice place for a wedding, I guess. |
30. Dog food brand : ALPO
31. Speech problem : LISP
32. At a distance : AFAR
33. Runner's distance : MILE
38. Propane container : TANK
39. Use a keypad : TYPE
41. Samoan capital : APIA. The city, not the money.
42. Blowhard : WINDBAG
43. Ate noisily, as soup : SLURPED
44. Playful sprite : PIXIE
47. "Remington __": '80s TV detective show : STEELE
49. Cross-legged meditation position : LOTUS
51. Dr. Mallard's apt nickname on "NCIS" : DUCKY. He puts the emphasis on the last syllable.
52. Chilling in the locker room, as champagne : ON ICE
53. Storage towers : SILOs
54. Indian royal : RAJA
55. Util. bill : ELEC.
56. Sudden wind : GUST
60. __ Fáil: Irish coronation stone : LIA. On the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland
61. Actor Beatty : NED
So what's your mood?
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
I'm excited to share with you that the SLIDE puzzle Jazzbumpa (Ron) and I made last year was nominated for the Orca Best Easy Puzzle. Sam Donaldson even remembered that it's Ron's debut. Thanks, Sam! And Ron is 2 for 2 with his LA Times submissions.
37 comments:
Crunchy crossword puzzles tend to drive you nuts.
You think you have it cracked, then come the maybes and the buts.
The crossings that are natick,
Irk like squirrels in your attic.
All the Guessing like a Wild Ass leaves you braying like a putz!
~ ` ~ ` ~
When Miss GREEN met Mr. BROWN,
They hit it off and went to town!
Soon they were wed
And then they bred,
In time they had four kids around.
Their daughter, PINK, married a grocer;
Their second kid, BLUE, lived life as a rover.
The twins, BLACK and WHITE,
Found combined, they could write,
Now they're published, and read all over!
Argyle: Love what you did with the grid!
Morning, all!
What a colorful puzzle. And yes, most definitely on the crunchy side for a Monday. The perps were all fair, so no major hangups, but I was very surprised to see NYACK, SPYHOP, SKITOW, APIA, EKCO, LIA, etc. All told, it added about a minute to my usual Monday solve time (which is a good 25% longer).
The theme was a delight and very easy to get, except that I did go with BLACKBALL before BLACKLIST.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think there's some snow waiting to be shoveled...
WBS...even about the snow. :-(
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. As Barry noted, this was a very colorful puzzle. I loved it! I initially wanted Black Ball instead of BLACK LIST, but other than that I knew my colors!
Never heard of SPYHOP before. Interesting word.
My favorite clue was Leaves for a Cigar = TOBACCO.
Congratulations to CC and Jazzbumpa on the nomination.
My hubby had surgery last week and he had some complications from the anesthesia, so we had a bit of a scare, but all seem ok now. Now we just have a long recovery period.
QOD: You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child. ~ Dr. Seuss (né Theodor Geisel, Mar. 2, 1904 ~ Sept. 24, 1991)
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Roland Huget, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Well, I only got half of Friday's. Saturday I was gone all day. Sunday I got about 95 percent. Hope to finish it later.
Today's I got quite easily. Finished it in one cup of tea.
Liked the theme. Colors.
My only unknown was NYACK. Perps fixed that.
My second only unknown was LIA. Also perped.
Fortunately, no french today.
Congratulations to Jazzbumpa and C.C. for their award.
Off to my day after some more tea (Earl Grey, of course).
Abejo
( )
Good morning!
This was not a speed run, and had some pleasant crunch for a Monday. Don't believe I've ever seen SPYHOP (is it one word or two?). NYACK sounds like something Curly would say, "Nyack, Nyack, Nyack!"
Did you know that CALICOS are almost always female? -- something about the coloring and the X chromosome.
Congrats, C.C. and JzB on your Orca! Do you suppose they named it because it's black and white like a crossword?
NYACK in the news. An interesting article (in today's NY Times) about a new bridge over the (currently frozen) Hudson.
Congrats to C.C. and Ron! An exciting achievement to be sure!
Like others, I didn't know NYACK or APIA, and had never heard of SPYHOPping or LIA, but perps to the rescue and I got it done. In general a relief after Thursday and Friday last week!
Sorry about the snow! Tonight Chicagoland is due for a "Wintry Mix." Tinbeni, is that a cocktail with lots of ice?
Nice start for the week. Thanks, Roland; I really enjoyed the theme. I kept thinking MHO must be wrong--isn't it ohm?--learning moment. Loved learning SPYHOP. I supposed I missed that in Moby Dick. Nice link. Thanks Argyle. Seems like a perfect portmanteau to me.
Have a good day. Feel better and get your rest, Gary. Congrats to C.C. and JazzB.
Argyle: Nice write-up. Especially enjoyed the SPY-HOP clip.
Along with the NY City suburb, NYACK, these were my two (count'em, 2) learning moments.
Roland, Thank you for a FUN Monday puzzle.
Interesting, if you chill champagne in a locker room it is considered O'NICE ... well that's how I parsed it ... lol
Stuck with a Sunny Day heading to 80 degrees ...
Life is tough in Florida.
Cheers!!!
Hello Puzzlers -
WBS. WMS.
At least it's a bit above freezing for once,and there's some good sun to help clear the driveway.
We have a little calico female cat. She has the cutest little face!
What a fun debut puzzle, and very much more than most Mondays WEES about SPY HOP, MHO, APIA....
I was pasrticularly impressed with the internal symmetry of 2 hyphenated theme fill, 2 two word fill and 2 one word fill.
A hearty congratulations to JzB for the Orca nod and a get better soon to HG.
Finally, who does not love GENETICS
We have three tortoise shell, three orange, one piebald orange, three gray and one all white with a black bowtie among the cats we feed at work. They have all been neutered.
Fun run today. WEES. Didn't know spyhop, had forgotten Mho, wanted Black Ball. But, got through it without incident.
In the ongoing discussion about dead tree vs electronic solving, the comic Drabble weighed in yesterday. Thought it was pretty funny.
Hope all is going well Gary!
Greetings!
Thanks Roland and Santa!
Nice theme.
Had to chew on NYACK and SPYHOP.
Rained cats and dogs most of day and night. Thunder, too. Supposedly hail.
Congrats Jazz and CC.
Gary: hope that you are feeling better!
Cheers!
Good Morning:
Enjoyed this "colorful" offering, sky hop notwithstanding. A tad crunchy for a Monday, but, ultimately, smooth sailing. Blackball was my first choice, also.
Thanks, Roland and Argyle for getting us off to a good start in the month of March.
Hope you're feeling better, Gary, and well on your way to a speedy recovery! I miss your musings!
CED, thos clips from late yesterday were funny. I don't know how you find as many as you do.
Have a great day.
A nice Monday puzzle with a few unknowns, but colorful perps helped fill in the blanks.
WES about SPYHOP, LIA, AITS and I'll add JESU. Also I don't know any of the Spice Girls, so perps were the only way of filling in that word.
I know how Pierce Brosnan's career went after "Remington Steele", but what happened to the career of Stephanie Zimbalist? I liked her, but she never seemed to be in anything on a regular basis, just the occasional episode of various series.
In central PA it snowed all day yesterday and now the wind is sculpting the landscape. Part of the driveway is clear and the sidewalk is drifted in with over 2 feet of snow. I think I'll wait until the snow decides to settle in one spot before I go out and try to clear it away.
I hope everyone is surviving this weather.
Greetings, puzzlers! De colores, Argyle!
Like most Mondays, this was a quick sashay with just enough crunch. Though we've seen LIA Fail many times, I can't keep it in mind. It's meaningless to me.
Thank you, Robert Huget, for a fun time.
It's always sad to see the finale of Downton Abbey and with so many loose ends left but some nice surprises, too.
Get well wishes for Gary and Hahtoolah's husband.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Hi gang -
Just to clarify, C.C and I didn't win the ORCA award, but our SLIDE puzzle was one of the nominees.
Sam Donaldson did have some very nice things to say about the puzzle, which you can read if you click the link C.C. provided above.
As I recall, the basic theme concept was mine, and we threw a lot of ideas back and forth to generate the theme fill and clues. The unifier was C.C.'s, and with her guidance, the theme was nice and tight.
Of course, she filled the grid as well. I helped with some of the cluing.
It was a lot of fun, and my hat is off to C.C. for her amazing skills, and for being a kind and generous mentor.
Cool Regards!
Ron aka JzB
Another smooth Monday that was not too routine. Thank you Roland and congrats on your debut.
Nice write-up, Argyle. Loved the color chart!
Whew, what a relief that A WAC was correct, since its cross with NYACK was a natick for me. It would really be depressing to fail on a Monday puzzle, but I got it after all--Yay! And I loved the color theme, so many thanks Roland, and you too, Argyle, for your always delightful expo.
Glad I got GERI, thanks to perps. The only Spice Girls I know are MEL B, a judge on "America's Got Talent," and POSH, married to David Beckham, I think, who turns up in "People" magazine fairly often.
Hahtoolah, glad your husband will be okay.
Congratulations on the nomination, C.C. and Jazz B. Exciting!
Have a great week, everybody!
Good morning everyone.
What Barry and others said about today's crunchiness. Never heard of SKYHOP. As a New Yorker, knew about NYACK; it anchors the west end of the Tappan Zee bridge over the Hudson, opposite Tarrytown. But I'm guessing our mid-western friends and west coast friends have not heard of it unless they have visited the northern suburbs of NYC.
Anyway, the solve was straightforward; and no lookups or erasures were needed. Colorful theme.
Congrats to C.C. and JzB on the Orca Easy Puzzle nomination.
Good Monday to all.
I jumped around the puzzle today instead of doing it in order, so it could last a few minutes more. Coincidentally, when I entered BROWNBAG and then WINDBAG, I thought I was onto the theme. I hadn't entered the other color answers yet. Then, of course, the light came on when I did.
Some answers such as JESU, MHOS, AITS, SPYHOP, and LIA weren't Monday friendly.
My husband was born in Nyack, New York. He liked seeing this answer. Hasn't been back in over 50 years.
Feel bad for those of you who are still putting up with bad weather. Florida is "freezing" at about 80 degrees today.
Enjoy and be well.
Nice debut puzzle for Roland Huget. A little extra crunch for a Monday, but no nits. SPYHOP was unknown.
Owen - very colorful limericks. I especially liked BLACK and WHITE.
Looking forward to Gary's return.
Hatoolah - good luck with your husband's recovery.
Sat night we got just a dusting of snow, but Toledo got about 3 inches.
The storm that's moving across the midsection should hit us tomorrow. Bright and sunny today, upper 20's. Still a thick white blanket on the ground.
Baseball is only a little more than a month away. Season opens on Sunday April 5 with Cardinals at Cubs. Most other teams start the following day.
Cheers!
JzB
Hola Everyone, I whizzed through this one today, with one problem. I put in Stash for Stockpile and had to scratch my head a bit before I realized my mistake. One A and S fit with Aide and Ulster so I just knew that it was correct--until it wasn"t!!
I have jury duty tomorrow so will have to Brown Bag it for my noon repast. There are restaurants nearby, but they are expensive.
I prefer my own lunches anyway.
Owen, your Black and White twins in your limerick reminded me of twins I had in one of my classes. They were named Ebony and Ivory.
Take care all of you who are in the "snow" areas of our country. The storms just seems to go on and on. Would that we could spread out some of that moisture and we here on the West Coast could take advantage of it.
Have a great day, everyone.
I haven't done a Monday puzzle in a long time, mainly because the newspaper only came 3 days a week, and they're usually so easy to do that it takes longer to download from the LA Times website that to finish the puzzle.
This one held true to form for a Monday, with SPY HOP being the only thing that I never had seen before. My only writeover was BLACKLIST for BLACKBALL.
MHOS- I had a physics prof who called conductance SMHO instead of MHOS. He could pronounce it and we all knew what it was.
My only other unknowns were A WAC, TO RIO ( easy guesses), JESU, and LIA
Congratulations JazzB and C.C. on your puzzling award. We have such talented people here on our blog.
I forgot to mention that I don't think I've ever seen a whale tread water and Spyhop was totally unknown! My learning moment for today.
Hatoolah, Good thoughts for your hubby's recovery. Also, you take care. Care giving is a hard job.
This puzzle was a piece of cake,
except where it wasn't...
Learning moments: Spyhop, Aits, Ducky, I would throw in Apia but I am not going to remember, so I can't say I learned it...
Relearned Mho...
Apparently those Aits have a lot of History
Hmm, so pretty, I think I will use Google Earth to spyhop them.
Dudley:
What a nice CSO to you at AILERON yesterday. I wanted you to know that it was a fourth grade vocabulary word when I taught and I liked the pronunciation.
CED: EYOTS? I have enough trouble mixing up AITS, ADITS, and RIAS!
Was there anyone for whom SPYHOP was not a new word? Now when are we going to see LOBTAILING and PEDUNCLE THROW?
Help with your luggage, if there's really a lot?
At the depot, a redcap will tote what you've got.
At the airport, a skycap,
A bellhop where you stay at,
But a SPYHOP holds a whale, and help you he'll not!
Another nice Monday with a little bit of crunch in it.
I used to live very close to the Thames in London and about a mile from Chiswick Eyot. I'd have challenged any American visitor to pronounce that correctly :)
I don't see the connection between the six colors in the puzzle and the (presumed) twelve colors of mood rings.
Nor do I think PINK SLIP is a verb.
The connection of the colors to a mood ring is just my flight of fancy.
I have added hyphens to PINK-SLIP and BLUE-PENCIL to make it clear they are verbs.
Hi all!
Crunchy, but doable Monday. Thanks Roland. Thanks too to Argyle for the writeup (I got where you were going - double-cute).
Sure, I had BLACKball and other w/os that EES. SPY HOP makes sense, but new to me.
Fav: KLINK I loved Hogan's Heroes (and F-Troop) in my ute - they played back to back on the STL TV station.
Someone please 'splain A WAC @41a. I'm guessing Woman's Army Corps, but I donno. The movie was made when my dad was 2!
Owen - you outdid yourself today. Thanks.
JzB & C.C. Congrats. I remember the SLIDE puzzle and how fun it was. The second puzzle was who was Ron? I guessed JzB before hitting the blog. 2x the fun!
Cheers, -T
If you want, you can watch the whole movie. Never Wave at a WAC
Thank you Roland and Argyle. WTG Jazz and C.C.!
Yawner. Hackneyed theme. Odd and crunchy fill for a Monday. MHOS? NACRE? SKITOW? APIA? AWAC (perps!)? LIA? JESU? RAJA? EKCO? ATH? I feel like I am in crossword hell. None of those words belong in a Monday puzzle. Never heard of SPYHOP or NYACK though I believe they exist. I feel sorry for someone trying this as their first puzzle ever today. They might not give it a second chance!
Heck, I understand throwing a bone to a newbie, but perhaps Rich could have used some restraint on this one. It went fast enough, but I felt like I was at the dentist and just wanted it to be over.
What can I say? I'm not one to pull punches I guess. I really hope Roland continues to work at constructing, and look forward to some great stuff in the future!
This is Jordan's first little trip away from home. His class is off to Science Camp in the local foothills. I miss the little guy already; chess, bike rides, Uno, fun videos... He came by last night and seemed especially affectionate, like he knew he wasn't going to see me for a while.
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