Theme: Homophones - Were you aware the sound in the middle of the theme entries was a homophone?
17A. 1957 Michael Landon horror film role : TEENAGE WEREWOLF
27A. "You're going to like the way you look" clothing chain : MEN'S WEARHOUSE
46A. Place to copy keys : HARDWARE STORE
62A. "Not in my backyard" : "ANYWHERE BUT HERE"
WARNING: Strong language. George Carlin(6:05) - NIMBY (Not in my back yard) (Dealing with homelessness)(and golf)
Argyle hear. No reveal but two spanners. You ought not have any problems with this one.
Across:
1. Reject, as a sweetheart : JILT
5. Bee Gees family name : GIBB
9. Beginning : ONSET
14. Emmy winner Falco : EDIE. Both comedy and drama.
15. Comédie musicale part : ACTE. French.
16. Beautiful, in Bologna : BELLA. Italian.
20. __ Arabia : SAUDI. Arabic. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud.
21. Nightclub in a Manilow song : COPA. "At the Copa, Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Havana!"
22. Tootsies : FEET
23. Poet Khayyám : OMAR
25. Exxon's ex-name : ESSO. And current, too.
32. Isr. neighbor : SYR. (Israel/Syria)
33. Listener? : EAR
34. "I give up!" : "UNCLE!"
36. Sailor's confinement : BRIG. and the occasional Marine could be found there.
38. Struck down, in 39-Down : SMOTE
41. "Finish the job!" : "DO IT!"
42. Curved like a rainbow : ARCED
44. "So that's your game!" : "A-HA!"
45. Function : USE
51. Baseball stitching : SEAM
52. Animal on the California state flag : BEAR
53. Trig or calc : MATH
56. Words claiming innocence : "NOT I"
58. Higher-ranking : UPPER
65. Skylit courtyards : ATRIA
66. "__ fair in love and war" : ALL'S
67. Extremely dry : ARID
68. __ to be: destined : MEANT
69. Jeans brand : LEES. Trademark Lee™
70. Women in habits : NUNS
Down:
1. New York footballers : JETS. 8–8 regular season 2014.
2. Notion : IDEA
3. In __ of: substituted for : LIEU
4. Muscle-to-bone connector : TENDON
5. Vaudeville bit : GAG
6. Banana split ingredient : ICE CREAM. Standard vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, right?
7. Call in a bingo hall : B TWO
8. Paging device : BEEPER
9. U.K. honor : OBE. Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
10. Recently discovered : NEWFOUNDland (icebergs)
11. Wild plum : SLOE
12. Fashion magazine : ELLE
13. 300-pound president : TAFT. William Howard Taft, our 27th President.
18. Goals : AIMS. Not ENDS today.
19. Calamine lotion target : RASH
24. Fills with wonder : AWEs
26. Almost worthless amount : SOU. Old French coin.
27. Gift from the Magi : MYRRH
28. "Fear of Flying" author Jong : ERICA
29. Like a loud crowd : AROAR
30. Clean with elbow grease : SCOUR
31. Beethoven's "Für __" : ELISE
32. Agcy. that aids start-ups : SBA. (Small Business Administration) Formed July 30, 1953.
35. French summer : ÉTÉ
37. "Rhapsody in Blue" composer : GERSHWIN
39. Holy Scripture : THE BIBLE
40. Lighten up : EASE
43. Ike's initials : DDE. (Dwight David Eisenhower) our 34th President.
47. Wind down : WANE
48. Lacking principles : AMORAL
49. Pulled tight : TAUT
50. Many an adoptee : ORPHAN
53. Polite way to address a lady : MA'AM
54. Pot starter : ANTE
55. "America's Next Top Model" host Banks : TYRA
57. Prefix with gram or graph : TELE
59. Lima is its capital : PERU. Home of the lima bean, really.
60. Ireland, poetically : ERIN
61. Chianti and Merlot : REDS
63. Sombrero, e.g. : HAT
64. Battleship letters : USS. At least ours are.
Argyle
56 comments:
Simple clever collaborative theme by Kevin Christian and Andrea Carla Michaels (ACME), both of whom I have met on multiple occasions. Congratulations also to C.C., who has today's ingenious New York Times puzzle.
For today (and trust me on the day), you may enjoy Jedi hope you know today's date.
Morning, all!
Got the theme after the second theme answer. Didn't need it to solve anything, but it was still nice to discover.
Pretty straightforward Monday puzzle, I thought. Tried ITCH before RASH, which held me up for a little bit. Also, had trouble accepting LEES as the jeans brand instead of LEE, but it fit, so whatever.
Do you wonder where werewolves wear underwear?
Is it camouflaged with fake fox hair?
If it's no on the faux,
Do they go commando?
Or is it under their fur where we're unaware?
Re: 52a, do read what Snopes has to say about it. Be sure to read the additional information link as well!
Behold the noble bartlet pear!
So fine a fruit to peel or pare!
But I've gotta warn ya,
In California
You'll often find fruits appear in a pair!
Good day everyone,
Good start to the week thanks to Kevin and Argyle. Learning moment.. .. MENS WEARHOUSE. Know of it, but in my mind it was ware, not WEAR.
22a Tootsies/FEET. Always felt my Feet were my FEET and my tootsies were my toes.
30d was scrub before SCOUR.
And 29D one of those disliked (by me) ahhh words.
Good sports weekend..Yankees kicked some butt in Boston & Tampa Bay did it right in Montreal.
A very nice start to the week, no unknowns just reading and filling.
I enjoyed BTWO BEEPER and OBE together.
Did not know the Pear/Bear story.
Thanks KC, ACM and Argyle
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. I quickly got the homophonic theme. Nice speed-run to ease into the work week.
My only error was to think that Cleaning with Elbow Grease was Scrub instead of SCOUR. Unfortunately, three of the letters are in the same spot in each word.
President William Howard TAFT had a lot of serious Bath Tub problems. Did he really get stuck in the bath?
QOD: Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others. ~ Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 ~ Jan. 20, 1993)
Good morning!
Wow, what a speed run! Faster than a speeding bullet. Now I'm off to find a tall building.
Dang! I always pronounced WEREWOLF like "weir" -- wrong all these years. WHERE isn't a true homophone to WEAR because of that leading "h" sound, that's heard most everyWHERE except in the midwest.
Hand up for ITCH, and for spelling it MYRHH, but AHCED would only work in Bahston.
Good morning, everyone.
I must be overtired. Too many erasures for a Monday. On 14A, I started with "I was". . . . Now, where was that going to fit?! A cup of coffee, and I was good to go. Thanks, Kevin and Andrea.
Thanks, Argyle. I think the Carlin piece focused my hometown. ;-) He nailed it.
Have a good day, all.
DO did you never watch YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN with Gene Wilder exclaiming, "Werewolf!" and Marty Feldman responding "There wolf."
We never sound the H in where so the homophone worked for me. Who out there says it with the H audible?
Names in a puzzle don't bother me. They're just more nouns. In fact, I rather enjoyed seeing LIEU Costello, Ed AIMS, Amos AWES, John WANE, SOU LYON, ELLE Cid, ANTE Mame, BELLA Lugosi, and AMORAL Lagasse.
Amoral Lagasse -- that one's classic, Jerome.
Lemon, we were taught to say it with "where" and "whipped", but not with "what", "when" or "whale." Go figure.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, KC and ACM, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Got through this easily. Was able to add a new word tied to one I had just written, all the way through the puzzle. I like to do that, but seldom can.
Theme was fine.
ICE CREAM was easy, even though I do not like banana splits. I can count on one hand the number of bananas I have eaten in my entire life, not counting banana bread which I do like. Go figure.
Hahtoolah, I liked you Q.O.D. Good rule to live by. Remember Audrey Hepburn very well too. Great actress.
Well, have to get going. Lots to do today. Spent all day yesterday at the Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg at the Native Plant Sale. Started raining after we shut down for the day.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
George Carlin always rocked. I mourned his passing. Thanks for the link, Argyle!
I always thought the 'wh' sound pronouncing the 'h' was more British, but never thought too much about what I say myself. mostly sans 'h' I think.
Fun puzzle today too, with no problems at all.
Hi, this is Kevin. Glad you all liked today's puzzle. It's always fun to collaborate with Andrea. See ya!
KC thanks for coming by. Schaumberg is the birthplace of some friends of mine. George Carlin and Audrey Hepburn were both great.
Good Morning:
A nice easy, breezy start to the week. Caught the theme early on although I, too, originally had Men's Warehouse. After seeing hundreds of their commercials, apparently I never paid attention to the spelling.
Thanks, KC, ACM and Argyle for a Monday stroll in the park.
Have a great day.
Easy breezy, as IM said. I started filling in 27A as gentleMEN'S WEARHOUSE but soon ran out of spaces, LOL!!
OwenKL, very interesting "story" about the CA flag. Even more interesting was the additional information. ;-)
Argyle: Thanks for the Carlin "NIMBY" link ... took me longer to enjoy IT than the time it took to solve this wonderful Monday puzzle.
Hondo: Yeah! The NY Yankee's sweep and Lightning games made for a great weekend.
The crowds will be AROAR this Wednesday & Thursday in Tampa.
Cheers!
Musings
-I’ve seen that commercial a gazillion times and thought it was MEN’S WAREHOUSE
-I had no idea the 1st syllable of WEREWOLF was a homophone to where
-Is she having second thoughts about JILTING?
-My four doctors do not think my issues indicate the ONSET of the “C” word
-The SAUD family is worried about low oil prices and Yemen
-AHA! You really aren’t a Nigerian Prince with money for me… I want my money back!
-The NCAA hopes changing to a changing to a Flatter SEAMED ball will add more offense to the game
-NOT I story with a MORAL (not AMORAL)
-The Opryland ATRIA is the prettiest we’ve ever seen
-We aren’t ARID here. We’ve had two days of rain and there’s an 70%+ chances the rest of the week
-Lincoln Diocese NUNS wear the habit. Omaha’s don’t
-NEW FOUND evidence: Coffee is good for you, bad for you, good for you,…
-Many here will know the movie with Dr. BEEPER
Addendum
-The NIMBY idea made our Fremont city father’s turn down a new state penitentiary and ethanol plant. Tecumseh, NE and Blair, NE were happy to take them.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
My only ink blot, oddly enough, was in the NE corner wear I mistakenly put BUENA into the space ware BELLA was supposed too; thankfully perps helped
Cute theme and an ok challenge four a Monday; was mostly a speed run but the clues/solves kept my interest - nice recap Argyle, and welcome back Owen
I watched the clip from Carlin; didn't realize he was so anti-golf, though I think he was just trying to pile on, equating golf to elitists. One of Carlin's "disciples" has an equally, if not funnier skit on golf, witch is shown hear. WARNING: lots of expletives, so don't watch if your averse to bad language (i.e., cussing!)
I am not oblivious to the fact that golf can be thought of only as an elitist sport. Private clubs, expensive golf resort destinations, etc can give it that connotation - as one who grew up in a middle class family, and was exposed first to golf as a caddy, and played on muni's (short for municipal courses, ware the conditions were less than pristine), I am a bit put off by both Carlin and Williams. Golf instructs it's players to be truthful and self-governing. Their are scores of examples in professional and amateur golf of players imposing stroke penalties and even disqualification when they realize they incurred an infraction of the rules of Golf. Compared to other sports, wear getting ahead by cheating or NOT calling themselves for an infraction is OK, Golf is head and shoulders above.
Ok - dun with the golf "rant" and as well with the misuse of homophomatic words! The "real" Chairman (or in today's puzzle, reel) gets frustrated whenever I see the wrong use of your, you're, its, it's, etc
Hello Puzzlers -
I'm glad the topic of the sound relationship between wear and where has come up. In grade school, we were taught they were exact homophones, but later on in high school we learned about the difference an aspirated H makes. Since then I've been careful to say "where", and other such words, with that emphasis. Of course, it does interfere with today's theme.
Owen 5:38 - I'm glad the Snopes compilers have a sense of humor as well as a sense of the need to teach people to guard against naïveté.
Morning, Argyle! Know any Marines who saw the brig's interior? :-)
Your third paragraph...Should be "YOU'RE" not "YOUR". Don't get too frustrated by it. Everyone makes mistakes.
Smooth, easy puzzle for a Monday. Did appreciate long entries like NEWFOUND, GERSHWIN, ICECREAM, and THEBIBLE. Thanks Kevin & Andrea.
Argyle - Loved the pic on the NEWFOUNDland bergs. Thanks for the job well done.
Very simple theme and a fast run. WEES about the spelling of WEARHOUSE. It's funny how you can see something so often, but not really "see" it. Also had a SCRUB/SCOUR moment.
Everytime I think of Michael Landon, I feel kind of sad. He was a wonderful person, great actor and a loving father. His childhood and much of his life was not pleasant, and his suffering illness and early death was just cruel. Can someone please tell me why good people die too soon, but the SOB's of this world go on and on?
Sorry for the rant..
A peasant day to all. Tell someone you love them....
Oops...Pleasant. sorry fot the misspell.
coneyro @ 10:47
I made more "misteaks" than the one you pointed out; I "new" I was using the wrong word, given the homophonic theme of the puzzle; I did it on "porpoise"!!
And yes, I make mistakes, too - plenty of 'em. It's just those niggling ones that irk me when I see them in text. I'm sure that some people don't realize it when they type "hear" when they're meaning a place, or "your" when they're meaning you are.
Now I spell FOR wrong...My hands don't do what my brain wants..
I just reread your post. I get it now. My head must have been asleep. I see all the other wrong words. My apologies.
I just love a speed run on a Monday morning--many thanks, Kevin and ACME!
And you, too, Argyle, as always.
Same learning moment as DO's about the pronunciation of WEREWOLF. Another one: I always thought TOOTSIES were TOES, not FEET. Go figure.
Have a great week, everybody!
Neat puzzle and expo, just right for a Monday.
I have always liked the pun in MENSWEARHOUSE. I also liked George Zimmer and I do miss him.
I do not pronounce the h in where. This is becoming a more and more common practice. Pronouncing the h is, indeed, considered an overcorrection. WIKI “The wine–whine merger is a merger by which voiceless /hw/ is reduced to voiced /w/. It has occurred historically in the dialects of the great majority of English speakers. The resulting /w/ is generally pronounced [w], but sometimes [hw̥]; this may be hypercorrection.”
Link scroll to wine/whine merger
This site lists ware and where as homophones.
We all recognize that what we were taught in science 25 or even 10 years ago has become obsolete in many cases. This is also true of what we were taught in English class, especially 40-50 years ago. If what we were taught then was written in stone and has become immutable, English would be on the way to becoming a dead language, instead of the vibrant ever changing language it is.
IMO the PC (politically correct) police and the GC (grammatically correct) police overdo it when they over-correct.
Personally, I never cared for comedians full of hypocrisy pitting one group against another and creating 'victims' of their humor. Carlin died in Santa Monica near several golf courses with a net worth north of 10 million. Williams committed suicide in one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S. because his net worth of over 50 million couldn't sustain his lifestyle. Champions of the common man, I'm sure.
Rare clip of a 'non-victim' skit from a show that disparages EVERYBODY.
Greetings, friends!
Thank you, Kevin and Carla for a fun run today. I quickly filled the first two theme answers and sped on to the rest of the grid.
Since I'm a visual speller WEARHOUSE was no problem. Liked SMOTE crossing THE BIBLE.
French is often my problem and I simply couldn't dredge up ACTE, exacerbated by having GIG instead of GAG. Drat! Defeated by a Monday puzzle. How embarrassing.
Today our desert is not ARID as it rained overnight and cooled down the temps. How's your weather, BillG?
The more I read the more A- words I encounter. In the current book it was "atremble" and in context makes perfect sense.
Have a great Monday, everyone!
I hope Lemony spent the time to read Owen's 2nd link before he went out today telling everyone of the story of the California flag's big mistake.
WHether or not, 'led by Captain Jebediah Bartlett and his two lieutenants, Albert Bosc and Emmanuel d'Anjou' is true, is made me chuckle and doubt the story whenceforth.
Hi Y'all! Fun & fast puzzle. No nits or problems other than trying to spell ERICA with a "K". I was so proud to spell MYRRH correctly for once.
We pronounce the "H" out here. I didn't know anyone didn't.
Like Lucina, my brain had seen WEARHOUSE and cataloged it for future use, I guess.
I'd only seen George Carlin on television and didn't realize he used so much profanity. Hmmm.
Thanks, Argyle! You really searched out apt links.
Add me to the "TOOTSIES" = toes crowd.
Yes I ought not to have any problems with this puzzle but like Lucina I had GIG instead of GAG and ICTE wasn't a French word that I knew. BTWO was not dividing into B TWO so I had a Monday DNF! Oh well it was fun.
Hand up for SCRUB before SCOUR, and TOES before FEET. MYRRH took some rearranging until I got the spelling right. I smiled at the REDS for Marti.
I'm not familiar with Men's Wearhouse but it filled in well. I don't say the H.
Thanks Argyle for the Newfoundland photo. Such a beautiful province to visit. The local accent is very strong there! They may pronounce the H! In some areas, when they spoke quickly, I could not understand them.
Whenever our Maple Leafs finish out of the playoffs (which is almost every year sadly!), we have to change allegiance to another Canadian team. If Montreal bows out soon, we will have to cheer for Calgary. Prospects are not looking good.
I just turned 18. Fun puzzle. Whats a beeper? Never heard of it.
Homophone, homonym,
Make grammar gurus Grimm!
I'd rhyme a fun lim
The meanings to limn,
But fear that to do so
I'd risk life and limb!
I thought I was clever in my first limerick today to use a 5th homophone not in the puzzle (you spotted it, didn't you!), but regional variations in pronunciation can have strange effects. I consulted a (paper) homophone dictionary a cryptic crossword friend gave me, and discovered two more: WHIR and WIER! Which reminded me of Anne McCaffrey's WEYR. I'd clue them as puns rather than homophones, since they'd only be homonyms in some regions.
Good afternoon. That was a pleasant puzzle with a good theme though I didn't think WHERE and WERE fit with WEAR and WARE. To my mind, the first two sound different. Close enough though. Lemon, I pronounce the 'H' or, at least I think I do.
Chairman Moe: Ya got me!
Owen, I agree with Marti. Good story from Snopes about California's flag (plus the additional info which I completely agreed with.)
Some 'A' words seem fine; others seem uncomfortable to me. Aroar and aboil grate on my ears and brain.
Lucina, it's cloudy and cool here for the next couple of days. I like it!
Yellowrocks: I caught your reference to MEN SWEARHOUSE (not to be confused with a men's whorehouse).
If anyone missed that 5th homonym I mentioned above, it's the one with the apostrophe.
I suspect that those who think they pronounce the "h" in "where" and "when" don't do so as often as they think they do.
Anyway, it's a good excuse to link this oldie. Bonus points if you know (without Googling) what the "IFIC" buttons (worn by many in the audience) meant.
TOOTSIE can mean either toe or foot. After all, if your tootsies are cold, I'll bet your whole foot is cold. TOOTSIE also means dear, woman, or prostitute. Here context is everything. Are you insulted to be called TOOTSIE? It depends on the context.
BTW, TOOTSIE is one of my all time favorite movies. I've seen it over and over again. Dustin Hoffman is one of my favorites.
I have been bra shopping these past two days. In one dressing room the attendant found a dirty old bra on a hanger in place of the new bra for sale. It seems the customer wore the new bra home under her shirt.
I can't find bras I like since I lost 45 pounds. I don't need foam padding and hate underwires. The only other choice is gigantic 18 hour bras.
Thanks for the comments on my sciatica. I laughed at the pulling your leg comment. The only thing that would be eased would be the weight of my wallet. Now I am fully functioning, but uncomfortable. I seem to have a high tolerance for pain and an unusually rapid healing curve. The doctor has no idea what to predict about my future because I am so eccentric.I hope this does not interfere with my coming replacement.
Good afternoon everyone.
No chance to post 'til now. Had scrub before SCOUR and think of Tootsies as toes. But FEET fit; so be it.
Got GIBB from the perps. Nothing to add beyond what others have said.
We're getting closer to été; 81º here today.
YR, the leg-pulling was done by my husband, then later by my kids. Didn't cost anything. And I've avoided costly surgery.
Bronx Boy @ 2:55
Sorry, I had to google the answer to IFIC, so no bonus points for me. There are several answers out there; the one that's the most plausible is also the least interesting. But hey, it was the '50's . . .
Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" TV show was sponsored by Beech-Nut gum whose slogan was, "It's Flavor-ific".
I think my (older) sister had one of those buttons. She was a child of the 50s and I was a child of the 60s. We might as well have been born on different planets.
OwenKL , thank goodness you are back! I've missed your rhymes, but we all need your good sense to counter the grammar police who tell us how to pronounce things.
Of course, it all depends on accent, region, and just plain habit!
Easy, satisfying puzzle, and interesting expo.
HG, what wonderful news that the big C is off the table. Phew! I am so relieved for you.
Here is a big yellow rock from Kathy
And now, if YR can find a bra that fits, we might all be able to enjoy a much-deserved good night's sleep. My fingers are crossed.
The point was that I was astounded that someone stole goods in that way.I have seen people take the foam clam shell their burger came in and use it to sneak a free helping from the salad bar.People order water, dump it and refill the cup with soda.Walmart had to cut holes in their sample soda cups to keep people from using them to sneak free drinks.These are not the poor, but the so called middle class.It makes me sick.
Greetings!
Many thanks, Kevin, Andrea and Santa!
No nits.
Google doodle great today. (Turn sound at the right up and down to see what happens!)
Gail G. has another NetWord puzzle today! How does she do it?
Cheers!
Thanks for the sentiment, Kathy! There are certainly people who have “worser” problems than this substitute teacher!
Never heard of those before. Must only happen in New Jersey.
HI all!
Late to play today - just finshed a conf-call w/ me mates in Perth.
Many a misstep today. START @9a fitting SIR and TAFT. SIR fit WIERWOLF. Hand up for MENS Ware HOUSE.
I NEW FOUND the BELLA ELLE and now just have a mess o' ink but not a DNF!
62a made me think of RUSH's Double Agent (you only have to listen to the 1st 10s. Only 18 more days 'till the show in HOU!!!
Fav: What Lucina said - SMOTE xing BIBLE. MYRRH too (I'll refrain from linking Life of Brian).
Thanks Kevin and Andrea for a fun puzzle and of course Argyle (esp. for the Carlin clip - I saw that live in Ruston, LA) for the write up.
C. Moe - love the Williams' clip. Please don't cringe too much at my word crimes!
HG - Glad to hear there's no 'C.' BTW, The House of Saud did the $50 oil on purpose. It is 3 fold IMHO, punish Russia and Iran, kill US fracking, and boost the US economy.
Fine form today Owen.
Cheers, -T
HG - I found this article published 17 days before OPEC/SAUDIs said they'd "test the bottom." I think I heard about a recent book about it too. Cheers, -T
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