Theme: - "French Twists" - The last word in each theme entry is replaced by a homophonic word rooted in French.
27A. Testy lover? : CROSS BEAU. Crossbow. *EAU ending is common in French.
29A. Musical work expressing resentment? : BITTER SUITE. Bittersweet.
39A. Napped fabric, without a doubt? : EASILY SUEDE. Easily swayed.
52A. Bridezilla's fabric of choice? : POWER TULLE. Power tool. Fun clue.
72A. Measly computer storage? : PETTY CACHE. Petty cash. The verb is cacher, "hide".
85A. Surviving spouse's irritation? : WIDOW'S PIQUE. Widow's peak. New to me. I googled, then found out I don't have "widow's peak". Quite a sad name.
96A. The latest in foal fashions? : ARABIAN CHIC. Arabian sheik.
98A. Beauty needing a lift? : BLUE BELLE. Bluebell.
I had no idea that both SUITE and SUEDE are rooted in French. I guess SUAVE too, the way it's pronounced. SU+ another vowel.
Super
smooth grid with only 134 words. It helps that there are only 84 theme
squares (minimum for Rich), but this would be a 142 or 144 in my weak
hands.
Tracy Bennett is an accomplished crossword constructor. She made the puzzle one for this year's ACPT tournament.
By the way, did you see the picture of the contestant dressed in pope's costume? You can click here for more pictures. I wish they had captions.
Across:
1. Show no humility : BRAG. Boomer bowled no 300 this season. He's stuck at 18.
5. Golf club feature : LOFT
9. Refers (back), as to a prior subject : HARKS
14. Apprehends : GRABS
19. Old wisdom : LORE
20. Transportation network app : UBER. Our first "app" clue for UBER. "Ultra" & "Very" can take a rest.
21. So long, in Avignon : ADIEU
22. He had a way with words : ROGET. Indeed.
23. Hops drier : OAST
24. '30s Lorre role : MOTO. Mr. Moto.
25. 1959 Broadway family name : TRAPP. "The Sound of Music" .
26. Multicolored marble : AGATE
31. Musical symbols : NOTES
32. Ikea offering : SOFA. Have you tried the meatballs in Ikea?
33. Came to fruition : RIPENED
34. Key of Mozart's 40th symphony : G MINOR
36. 'Mongst kin? : TWIXT
38. Cops on base : MPs
41. Camaro __-Z : IROC
43. Southwestern hill : LOMA. I could only think of MESA.
47. Quaker abolitionist Lucretia : MOTT
48. Eagles' 84-Acrosses : AERIES. And 84. Chick's starter home : NEST. "Starter home" makes me smile. Also 77. Latin 84-Across builder : AVIS. Latin for "bird".
49. Bustle : TODO
50. Beyond the horizon : AFAR
51. Wedding followers : TRAINS. Oh, wedding dress trains.
54. Like Catwoman, e.g. : MASKED
58. Less fusty : NEWER
60. City once sought by Sir Walter Raleigh : EL DORADO. At least, he mapped out the Amazon.
61. Revival chorus : AMENSs
62. Primed for a fight : RILED
64. Stimulating nut : BETEL
65. Act without restraint : GO TO TOWN. New meaning to me.
69. Worrywart, at times : PACER
71. One-named Tejano singer : SELENA
74. Sprain application : ICE BAG. Frozen peas work also.
76. Doubting words : I BET
78. Irregular : SPOTTY
79. Brylcreem applications : DABS. Clue echo with 74A.
83. "I'm all __" : EARS
87. Gal follower? : PAL. Gal pal.
88. __ curls : BICEP
89. Sentence component : CLAUSE
90. Citrus refreshment : LIMEADE
94. More than satisfy : SATE
95. Queen of Kings : SHEBA. Queen of Sheba. Books of Kings.
102. Cristiano Ronaldo's longtime jersey number : SEVEN. He's the world's highest paid soccer player. We also have 107. Common fairy tale number : THREE. Mantle & Ruth.
103. Doth proceed : GOETH
104. Olympic event involving runners : LUGE. Did not know those blades are called runners.
105. Calendar col. : TUES
106. Still : INERT
108. Swing and others : ERAS
109. City whose name differs by one letter from a nearby volcano : ENNA. Etna.
110. Micronite filter cigarettes : KENTS
111. Monastery sights : HOODS
112. Hurston's "Their Eyes __ Watching God" : WERE
113. Pepper and Stubby: Abbr. : SGTs. Never heard of Stubby. Turns out he's a dog.
Down:
1. Allied voters : BLOC
2. 2013-'14 Katy Perry hit : ROAR
3. One with a burning passion : ARSONIST. You nailed it, right?
4. Wastes no time : GETS ON IT
5. Place for cutting boards : LUMBERYARD
6. Orchestral winds : OBOES
7. Vegan Greek salad omission : FETA. I admire those vegans. I don't eat dairy products (few Chinese do), but seafood is too tasty to give up.
8. Slangy slacks : TROU
9. Cloche carriers : HAT BOXES
10. Out of control, at sea : ADRIFT
11. Rodeo catcher : RIATA
12. Wouldn't surrender : KEPT
13. Big one on a runway : SUPER MODEL. Gisele remains my all-time favorite. Still can't believe my Gisele/Giselle goof last time.
14. Apprehends : GRASPS
15. Rapscallion : ROGUE
16. "There you go __": Reagan : AGAIN
17. Davis of "Dead Ringer" : BETTE
18. "... a __ flying fearless and fleet": Longfellow : STEED
28. Small one on a runway, briefly : STOL (Short TakeOff and Landing)
30. Chute mechanism : RIPCORD. New word to me.
32. Glancing blow : SIDESWIPE
34. Little shiner : GEM
35. "Women hold up half the sky" proclaimer : MAO. Gimme.
36. Winter Olympics host before Vancouver : TURIN
37. "Mad Men" creator Matthew : WEINER. Gimme. No relation to Carlos Danger.
40. Diver's milieu : SEA
41. Olympian Midori : ITO
42. Investment firm T. __ Price : ROWE
43. Victory emblem : LAUREL
44. Recently : OF LATE
45. "The Streets of San Francisco" co-star : MALDEN (Karl). Stumper. OK, another police drama. Nothing beats "NYPD Blue". Sipowicz, LaLalinda!
46. Iris ring : AREOLA. It's back.
51. Ready to snap : TESTY
52. Steep cliff : PRECIPICE
53. "Ain't Too Proud __": Temptations hit : TO BEG. Got via crosses.
54. Chatty flier : MAGPIE
55. Pond protozoan : AMOEBA
56. Popular gundog : SETTER
57. Fife player : KNOTTS (Don). Barney Fife.
59. That woman, in Brasilia : ELA. Also 101. Those women, in Bolivia : ESAS
63. Solve, in a way : DECODE
66. It precedes Oilers games : O CANADA
67. Kindred spirits are often on the same one : WAVELENGTH. I'm seldom on the same wavelength with those Saturday constructors.
68. CBS maritime drama : NCIS
70. Pave anew : RE-TOP
71. Obeys a shooter : SAYS CHEESE
73. Post-FDR prez : HST
75. Texter's afterthought intro : BTW
78. Alternates : SWITCHES
79. Hyperglycemia cause : DIABETES. High blood sugar. Poor Boomer has to poke his finger every day.
80. Apparatus co-invented by Cousteau : AQUALUNG. Lovely entry.
81. Do diner work : BUS
82. "… blind, but now I __" : SEE
86. Roman commoner : PLEB
87. Oils, e.g. : PAINTS. Oh, oils is a verb here then.
88. Tempted : BAITED. And 99. Tempt : LURE
90. Type of refractive surgery : LASIK. Who on our blog had LASIK surgery?
91. Sherlock's adversary Adler : IRENE
92. Connoisseur : MAVEN
93. His final blog post closes with "I'll see you at the movies" : EBERT
94. Courageous woman : SHERO. Never heard of this word before. Looks like a combo of She & hero.
95. Sweets-lover's craving : SUGAR. I learned from Barry G. It's key to good pasta sauce.
97. Pacific salmon : COHO
98. Erupted : BLEW
100. Forgoing time : LENT
I'm
sad to learn from Lucina that we lost Dodo (Dorothy Dodson, hence Dodo)
last Thursday. Dodo was very active on the blog for a few years. Very
loving and caring. Our Californian Coven (Chickie, JD and Garlic Gal)
visited
Dodo every year when Lucina traveled to California. Chickie talked to Dodo from
time to time. Dodo would be 90 years old this Oct.
 |
| Left to right: Chickie, Lucina, Garlic Gal, JD, and Dodo, June 4, 2014 |
C.C.
36 comments:
I liked Tracy Bennett's puzzle a lot: a real clever theme with eight strong answers, several of which were "laugh-out-loud" quality. C.C.'s writeup is spot-on in explaining the puzzle's strengths, including the ridiculously low (this is meant in a good way) word count. It was a pleasure for me to meet Tracy at the ACPT, and I met the "pope" there too -- he even blessed me with his cruciverbalix.
C.C. is being modest to not mention the fabulously creative Sunday puzzle today at "the other paper" ... a collaboration with Don Gagliardo. I won't say more, other than to recommend it highly whenever it comes to you (I understand in some markets, there is a week delay).
Finally, in case you haven't seen it yet, there is a magnificent article by Oliver Roeder of the FiveThirtyEight.com website about the ACPT. Click here to access it. Who would have guessed that solving crosswords could be so exciting?!
Morning, all!
Wait, we lost Dodo? Damn, that's sad to hear.
I was mostly on this puzzle's WAVELENGTH today and got the theme early on. Knowing the theme was crucial in finishing the puzzle for a change since I got totally stuck up top where UBER met LOFT met MOTO met TROU, etc. With CROSS in place, however, I finally just tried to think of a common word or phrase starting with CROSS that could have a french replacement and BEAU leaped to mind.
Never heard of SHERO (I actually tried SHE-RA at first), but grudgingly accepted that it was a thing. Also grudgingly accepted TRAPP since I'm pretty darn sure the family name was VON TRAPP and not just TRAPP. It's been a long time since I was in that musical, however (junior high school!), so I may be misremembering.
Other than those minor nits, this was a truly delightful puzzle. Just enough twist and challenge to be interesting, but nothing so obscure or tricky as to be annoying.
Condolences again to Dodo's family, on the off chance they happen to visit here.
I'm with C.C. because I've never heard of a SHERO either. I went all over the place before finally slayed this Frenchie. My biggest mistake was that I wrote AGATE ( 26A) in the wrong place ( in 25A) and after I saw AGATE in two places I reread the clues.
The theme came out immediately with CROSS BEAU. Many word solved by perps today. ENNA, SEVEN, WEINER, HAT BOXES, BETTE, STEED, MAO, IRENE. And to go along with SHERO, new words or terms- gal PAL (girlfriend???) and LOMA.
I had a hiccup by initially writing RETAR for RETOP and IN-LAWS PIQUE for WIDOWS. But SWITCHES quickly corrected that. I also wrote POWER TOLLE for TULLE which didn't help with the filling of LOMA. And we have GETS ON IT & GO TO TOWN in the same puzzle.
But in spite of the old commercials for KENT and Brycreem, those Latin American women ELA & ESAS, and Mike Douglas's partner on the 'Streets of San Francisco", I finished this one.
The Week in Review: M 4:30 T 6:32 W 8:00 T 13:15 F 15:31 S 16:34 S 30:47
Thursday: Major unknown in the SE corner: PYE DOG
Friday: Major unknown in the SE corner: ERIC KARROS
Saturday: A surprisingly swift Silkie solve though, as usual, it didn't start out that way.
Sunday: Very enjoyable with a clever, and fun, theme. Some of the false first fills (FFFs?) were CACAO before BETEL and PHRASE before CLAUSE. Perps came to the rescue.
With temps in the 70s yesterday I got out on my bike for the first time this year. I didn't ride very far but it was enough just to get back on (in?) the saddle again.
The Albany (NY) radio station just said something about snow overnight. I'm going to pretend they don't know what they're saying (or, what's more likely, that it won't affect the beautiful mid-Hudson valley).
See y'all next weekend.
Good morning!
This was a nice morning romp from Tracy. I realized the theme contained sound-alike words, but failed to realize that they were all French. Maybe if I'd looked at the title...
Hand up for MESA/LOMA. What gave me the most trouble was the "Little shiner" at 34d. Couldn't remember if Lucretia was a MOTT or a LOTT, so wound up doing an alphabet run to arrive at GEM.
C.C., congrats on your NYT with Don Hard-G today. Learning moment: KOAN. I'm pretty sure OILS is used as a noun. Some artworks are water-colors, some are OILS. Both are paints.
Hello Puzzlers -
I admire the high quality theme in today's large grid. Straightforward solve, too, but I never heard of a Shero so that was 100% perps.
Morning, C.C.! Here in Mass. there was a boom in LASIK surgery right around 2000, because at that time the kind of health insurance usually held by schoolteachers would pay for the procedure. Soon after, the Flexible Spending Account plan was formed, and because of that the LW and I were able to get LASIK in 2002 at reasonable rates.
Good Morning:
I'm not a big fan of Sunday puzzles because they can be "too" gimmicky for my taste. Today's, however, was a Baby Bear special: Just Right! The theme was obvious early on but that didn't make this a walk in the park. (I, also, never checked the title, so the French connection was unknown until reading the blog.)
That said, it was a FIW, due to laser/lasik, which lead to enert and Rents, which both went unchallenged. I'm not up on today's brand of cigarettes, so Rents looked okay, if a tad odd. (Never mind that before I kicked the habit, Kents were my poison of choice!)
No harm, no foul, as I really enjoyed the solve. Kudos to Tracy Bennett and many thanks to CC for keeping us enlightened.
RIP, Dodo.
Have a great day.
Really liked Tracy's effort today. The theme answers made me smile, and the fill was fun and fresh.
C.C., your puzzles are also just as good. Can't wait to get next week's Sunday NYT.
Have a good week to all!
Liked this puzzle a lot. It's amazing how many French words are part of our language.
The NW corner was hard work until trou came to mind. I'm not clear on how loft is a golf club feature. I think of it as the result of a golf swing. But what do I know? I don't play but love to watch it on tv.
Can't wait 'til next week to see your puzzle, C.C.
Have a lovely day everyone.
"Every golf club has loft, the angle of the clubface as it is positioned on the shaft."
Thanks for letting us know about Dodo, Lucy and C.C. I'm very sorry to hear the news. She will be missed.
Enjoyed this outing, but it beat me in the end. It took forever to figure out the theme, with the first one being Widows Pique, but that helped a lot with the others. Alas, I had filled in Esa where Ela should have been, and while I didn't like Rised one little bit, I forgot to go back and rethink it and make the change to riled. Also, I had the Mott/Lott issue that DO mentioned, and even though I started with Mott, I changed it to L thinking that the shiner was an Eel. BZZZZZT. Oh well, I enjoyed the effort.
Also enjoyed last week's NYT by Jeff Chen. Looking forward to yours next week, C.C.
Ave. Joe and I anguished last Sunday over the printing of an old puzzle and the abundance of gloppy ink that made the clues unreadable.
I can't speak for Joe this morning, but my copy of todays puzzle was the opposite with faint black (and mostly ghost white) areas that made it again unreadable. It was like trying to squeeze out another 500 copies after the message blips up: "toner empty." I was the lucky recipient of copy #499.
Grateful that I can download a clean copy here. Thank you Crossword Corner!
Ergo, I guess my copy has a few streaks like those you get when the toner cart is getting low, but it wasn't bad enough that I even noticed it until you mentioned it. I must have gotten #15.
That was a fun Sunday puzzle. Thanks Tracy and CC.
Al Cyone: My father met Gene Autry through his job. He took me to a Wild West show in an arena in Washington D.C. We went backstage and I got to meet him too, along with his steamer trunk of seemingly identical cream-colored 10-gallon hats. He seemed like a nice guy. I've always like his recordings of cowboy music.
Bye Dodo. Best wishes for the rest of your friends and family.
More later...
I also never heard of SHERO, although it makes sense as a portmanteau. [I wouldn't say it's an improvement on "heroine" though.] Fell into the same TRAPP as d-otto with ESA instead of ELA. Never heard of Mr. WEINER, and for some reason had SELENE/AREOLE rather than SELENA. Those made this a longish solve, even though the clever theme emerged quickly and was very helpful.
Barry G., although the family name was von Trapp in Austria, when in America they seem to have dropped the "von" -- billed as the Trapp Family Singers and operating the Trapp Family Lodge. Interesting discussion of myth vs. reality here.
As a new arrival here, I did not know Dodo, but my condolences to her friends here.
Clever theme was fun and helpful and cluing was diabolical in places! Just the right puzzle for a rainy, windy morning.
Musings
-Re: BRAGGING
-With IKEA now in K.C., this lets daughter skip Minneapolis and save 5 hrs
-Do you remember the movie with these two MP’S?
-Point LOMA in the hills of San Diego
-Sheldon’s fav Cat Women in order - Julie Newmar, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriwether, and Halle Berry
-Hey, The Mick is #7, ‘nuff said.
-97mph on a LUGE. What could go wrong?
-If you want money for reelection, you’d better vote with your BLOC
-I love the smell of a LUMBER YARD. Right, Splynter?
-So that’s what a Cloche is
-I remember Ain’t Too Proud To Beg as one of the songs in this narcissistic 1983 film
-O Canada puts our anthem to shame
-Some young teachers are getting LURED into bad situations by very young students. They should/do know better!
-So sorry to hear about our dear Dodo!
No time to puzzle today - just a break from chauffeuring the kids about says...
I recall how the blog would light up when Dodo would pop in. It was so nice, she will be missed...
HG - "Arrrrrmy Training Sir!"
Cheers, -T
Hello, friends!
Late to the party. I've been sad and distracted so the puzzle was secondary in my thoughts. Ergo, I didn't check the title which would have enabled me to finish quicker, I think.
But even strolling along it filled rather quickly until GEM/GMINOR and SETTER/GO TO TOWN and PETTY CACHE. I actually forgot to read my fill and had OH ANADA and PETTY HACHE. Such was my distraction.
While at Mass I prayed for the repose of Dodo's soul and that she enjoy happiness in eternity. She certainly gave us happy times.
Since I don't know Portuguese I also had ESA instead of ELA.
I look forward to your NYT puzzle next week, C.C.
Have a sunny Sunday, everyone!
Oh, Husker Gary, my friend...
Count me in as one of your fans. I enjoy your quizzes and thought provoking, borderline political comments. Today, however, I was disappointed with 2 of your 'musings'.
First, I didn't mind the LUGE comment, but I bet many here don't realize those pictures you linked are of the final moments of 21-year old Georgian athlete's , Nodar Kumaritashvili, life. That last shot, in particular, was taken just nanoseconds before his head hits that concrete pillar at 90 mph. Many lugers blamed the track, not the sport, on that horrific crash during the 2010 Olympics in Whistler, Canada:
"Prior to the deadly crash, athletes and other expressed concern’s about the track’s safety, particularly for athletes from nations that may have been ill-prepared for the “daunting” course:
"I think they are pushing it a little too much,” Australia’s Hannah Campbell-Pegg said Thursday night after she nearly lost control in training. “To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we’re crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives.'
Update: Video of the crash has surfaced on YouTube. Content may be upsetting to some viewers:"*
*I will not link the YouTube video but is is easily searchable. Type "deadly luge crash" into Google or YouTube.
Secondly, and somewhat related to the first thought, was the cringe-worthy comment(how's that for alliteration) re: O Canada.
I understand I might be overly sensitive and I imagine you were referring to the musicality of the Anthems, but the choice of the words, "puts ours to shame" was off-putting. I think of our young athletes standing on the podium for the greatest moment of their lives and wonder why they shed tears upon hearing the first few notes of The Star Spangled Banner. Maybe they are ashamed? Not to mention of the pride I and my fellow comrades in uniform feel for this melody. I am sick and tried of those who say our Anthem isn't worthy and maybe we should change it to God Bless America. Why? Shame on those people!
End of rant. Again, I enjoy your posts. Keep calm and comment on...
Jason
p.s. Many of the jokes in "Stripes" are funny because they are true.
Very sorry for the long post. I didn't know it was well over 20 lines.
I agree that this puzzle was just right. A pleasure to solve.
I, too, love our national anthem especially knowing that it was inspired during the heat of war. It is much more moving than some I can think of but won't mention. Everyone is entitled to pride in their country's flag and anthem.
As an American, the Star-Spangled Banner gives me goosebumps (though I don't think it has to be played at the start of every baseball game).
La Marseillaise also gives me goosebumps.
Deutschland Uber Alles gives me goosebumps too. But not in a good way.
A month or two ago, I linked a story from CBS's Sunday Morning about a young woman dying of a brain tumor who wanted to play on her school's basketball team. It was a great story about sportsmanship and caring. Here is the final chapter. Lauren Hill
Thanks for the encouragement and kind comments, everyone! I'm thinking I should have gone with SHERA (princess of power) in that spot. I'm running into a fair number of people who haven't heard of or don't like SHERO. I enjoy finding out what caused hitches or displeasure, and what clicked, and I learn from these things.
-- Tracy
Not just for women so it makes more sense.
"A woman or man who supports women's rights and respects women's issues."
Good of you to drop by.
Anonymous – Jason
-In doing some crude arithmetic, I calculate I have posted well over 15,000 musings during my time here and some have not been prize winners although I appreciate that you liked some of them.
-I was looking for a Luge mishap picture today and of course would not have posted that picture if I knew the full story. If it was your intent to inform me of my unfortunate choice, not expose the tragedy in every gory detail and not pique the curiosity of others who would have not known the details you could have e-mailed me directly, which is easily enough done by clicking on my Blue Name.
-The anthem comment was just made as an extension of the debate I have heard from my musical and military friends for years. My use of the word “shame” however was regretful and not tactful and I appreciate your pointing it out.
-I try not to be political or call people on their violation of that rule here but have contacted people off the blog when I feel it is useful to see what their thinking was.
-Everything was taken in the spirit it was offered but, once again, I would love to visit off the blog.
Thanks!
Husker
Good evening, C.C. and friends.
I am so sorry to learn of Dodo's passing. She contributed greatly to this blog, and although we hadn't heard from her in some time, I did think of her ofter.
Lucina: Please convey to her daughter that she was a valued friend to this blog.
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, great expo!
Ive been trying to post for three days and this is the first time I've had the CAPTCHA to quit making wheelies and give me something to prove I'm not a robot. Very frustrating.
PK
Hahtoolah:
When I spoke to Dodo's daughter I believe I emphasized how important a contributor she had been and how much we valued her friendship.
Well then, Husker, I guess we have had a nice lesson in what we post and how much research we should complete for each link.
I'm going back to lurking, so no correspondence required.
Jason
That scene from "Casablanca" (4:43) is one of my all-time favorites.
I need to try to set aside the time to watch more TED Talks.
Life in the Army
Puts ours to shame? I like ours better!!
Morphing Anon - Thanks for the Strips clip. I needed that smile before bed. Cheers. -T
Jason
-It appears that no lesson was learned on how to not make an unfortunate posting worse by supplying details, which only exacerbated the situation.
-Your reluctance to correspond with me directly but rather strike from the weeds on occasion while lurking is mystifying. I assure you I can be quite civil.
-Let's visit!
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