Theme: "L-iminated"- L is removed from each theme answer.
23A. Comment after a big raise? : THE POT THICKENS. The plot thickens.
42A. Faux furs left out in the cold? : FROSTED FAKES. Frosted Flakes.
60A. Chicago athlete in Denver? : MILE HIGH CUB. Mile high club.
84A. Gem named for a dinosaur? : BARNEY STONE. Blarney Stone.
99A. Fair-haired castaway? : BEACHED BLOND. Bleached blond. Lots of girls sported silver hair last summer. Not easy to be DYED (Covered the gray, say) in silver gray. Very complicated procedures.
120A. Running buddy's question? : YOUR PACE OR MINE? Your place or mine?
33D. Green Giant deal? : PEA BARGAIN. Plea bargain.
56D. Slacks for the boardroom? : POWER PANTS. Power plant.
The stray L's in MILE HIGH CUB and BEACHED BLOND might bother some purists, but they're fun phrases.
Lovely grid arrangement. No cheater square! Hard to do that on a Sunday.
Across:
1. Padlock part : HASP
5. Boldly forward : PERT. 18D. Gets boldly forward with : SASSES. Clue echoes.
9. Yrs. before college : EL-HI
13. Only major league team without a no-hitter to its credit : PADRES. I did not know this trivia. I asked Boomer. He answered "Marlins". We're no good.
19. Polynesian getaway : OAHU
20. Small number : A FEW.
21. Aslan of Narnia, e.g. : LION.
As Marti linked last week, Met Gala featured a China theme this year.
So much fun for me to watch each red carpet interpretation of various
Chinese flowers/animals.
22. Parthenon dedicatee : ATHENA
26. Range ropes : REATAS. Or RIATAS.
27. Mosaic part : TESSERA. New word to me. Its plural is Tesserae. Not *S.
28. Didn't let go of : KEPT
30. Takes the wrong way? : ROBS. Fun clue.
31. Scholarly piece : PAPER
34. Assign : ALLOT
37. Express sorrow : CRY. So is SOB.
38. Garden annoyance : MOLE
39. Dark clouds, perhaps : OMEN
40. Prison canary? : RAT. Nailed it. We also have 77. Field scurrier : MOUSE
45. Row : SPAT
46. Recess retort : AM SO
48. Cargo unit : TON
49. "Pshaw!" : FIE
50. Dwindle : SUBSIDE
52. Start of many a tribute : ODE TO
54. Pertinent : APROPOS
59. Greenhouse gas regulator: Abbr. : EPA
63. Pad : ABODE
64. Satisfied, as a debt : REPAID
66. Yucatán native : MAYAN
67. Arrived suddenly : BLEW IN
68. Bit of kelp, say : ALGA. I eat Wakame often. Kelp is too tough. It's good for veggie miso stock though.
70. Come down hard : TEEM. Like rain. Not a word I use.
72. Asian cuisine : THAI. Lemonade is lucky.
74. Do a farming job : SEED
75. Uncouth : COARSE
81. One hoping to find a school : ANGLER. School of fish!
83. Skylark sound : TRILL
86. Life : PEP
89. Physically aware : SENSATE. Not a word I use.
91. Fathered : SIRED
92. Unprocessed information : RAW DATA. Big gimme for all of us.
94. Hatch, e.g.: Abbr. : SEN. Orrin Hatch.
95. Helena-to-Lincoln dir. : ESE
96. Islamic official : IMAM
98. Rural roadside stops : INNS
105. Don Ho's instrument : UKE
106. Doctor's order : STAT
107. Bonnie Raitt, for one : ALTO. Got via crosses.
108. Gathering that may involve a wagon : TEA. What wagon? We call it tea cart.
109. Calls for : NEEDS
111. So last week : PASSE
112. Captures : NABS
113. Sea raptors : ERNS
115. Computer output device : PRINTER. What printer are you using? Ours is HP Envy. So so.
118. Food label reader, perhaps : DIETER. I cook by feel and instinct.
126. Preposterous, as an idea : INSANE
127. Shipbuilding tool : ADZE
128. Little red schoolhouse lady : MARM
129. Steady : EVEN
130. Brahms' symphonies, e.g. : TETRAD. No idea. I'm a classic music idiot.
131. Tenderfoot : NAIF
132. Shampoo additive : ALOE. I tried this clue for ACAI once. Rich did not use it.
Down:
1. Like some wings : HOT
2. Warm-bath reaction : AAH. I'll say "Ahh" only when it's hot.
3. Yachting pronoun : SHE
4. Out-of-style Boy Scout shelters : PUP TENTS. By the way, do any of you remember the big Chinese earthquake in 1976?
Over half a million people died. I have faint memory of sleeping
outside in a big tent. Wiki mentioned under Damage that "Tremors were
felt as far away as Xi'an approximately 760 km (470 mi) away." I was 5
at the time.
5. Gently touches : PATS
6. Little newts : EFTS
7. Zaps : REHEATS
8. Dancer's move : TWIRL
9. FDR was one : ELK. Unknown trivia. Because the clue is an abbreviation, I though the answer might be DEM.
10. Moment of dishonesty : LIE
11. Protest on the road : HONK
12. Cricket, for one : INSECT
13. Bowlful next to the chips : PARTY DIP
14. Put away : ATE. I put EAT first. Fooled by the tense.
15. Hindu duty : DHARMA. How do they decide where to put H? I have trouble spelling Gandhi also.
16. Seized again : RETOOK
17. Allow : ENABLE
24. "... sadness comes __ me": Longfellow : O'ER
25. Baby moose : CALF
29. Factory-built home : PREFAB
31. Western chasers : POSSE. And 99. 31-Down quarry : BANDIT
32. Energize : AMP UP. I tried PEP UP.
35. Former Sandinista leader : ORTEGA
36. Like the Cheshire Cat's grin : TOOTHY
40. Send forth : RADIATE
41. 2001 French romantic comedy : AMELIE. Loved the movie.
43. Tracked winter vehicle : SNO-CAT
44. Wild : FERAL
47. Trick reaction : OOH. Did you try "Doh"?
51. Bart Simpson, e.g. : IMP. Hi there Spitzboov!
53. Reduce in intensity : DIM
55. Quite hefty : OBESE. And 117. Hefty volume : TOME. One of our blog readers read "Dream of the Red Chamber", a hefty Chinese classic. I was totally impressed.
57. Jim Davis canine : ODIE
58. Summon, with "for" : SEND
61. Buildup of fluid : EDEMA
62. Tip a tam : UNHAT. Not a word I use.
65. British noblemen : EARLS
67. Standout : BIG NAME.
I just learned that our Steve lives in the same area as Miley Cyrus.
And he sees her from time to time at their local coffee shop &
Trader Joe's.
68. 97-Down pair, frequently : ACTS. And 97. Play with songs : MUSICAL
69. Passed-down learning : LORE
71. Smidgen : MORSEL
73. Inuit wear : ANORAK
76. Cut back : SLASH
78. Choral parts may be sung in it : UNISON
79. Not agitated : SERENE
80. Discriminating ability : EYE
82. Jack __, treasury secretary since 2013 : LEW. Known for his loopy signature.
84. Spree : BENDER
85. Cold War missile prog. : SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative)
87. Old lab heaters : ETNAS
88. Kid's adhesive : PASTE
90. Struggled for balance : TEETERED
93. Removed pieces from : DISARMED
100. Five-time Tony nominee Stritch : ELAINE
101. Ideally : AT BEST
102. Marquee partner : CO-STAR
103. Fig tree variety : BANYAN. Have you seen fig trees in person?
104. "Transcendence" actor : DEPP. Never saw the movie. Johnny Depp & Brad Pitt are not my type.
110. Many a TV series : DRAMA
111. In accordance with : PER
114. Vending machine buy : SODA
116. First-century emperor : NERO
119. Bambi family member : ENA. Aunt Ena.
121. Israeli weapon : UZI
122. Field official : REF
123. Creeping evergreen : IVY
124. Wedding page word : NEE
125. Stamp out : END
C.C.
34 comments:
Good morning everyone.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there. Hope you're treated special today.
Woke up around mid-night after falling asleep in-situ, and decided to see if the Chicago Trib. had the puzzle already; it did. So I attacked it to see how far I could go and and hour later it was done. Thought it was a little crunchier than normal, but it let me build into the unknown areas so eventually it was solved. Theme fill was perky, and gettable, so it helped bridge the rough spots.
Liked seeing APROPOS.
Hand up for wanting Dem. for FDR.
Bart the IMP is a spitzboov all right - - in spades.
95a - ESE. Lincoln bears 112º and 860 miles from Helena. Western distances are huge.
Have a great day everyone.
Morning, all!
I like to tell people I'm not going gray -- I've just decided to dye my hair platinum blond one strand at a time.
Fun theme, although a bit on the easy side. The fill overall was also perhaps a bit too straightforward for a Sunday, although there were a few interesting bits here and there.
Random thoughts:
* Anybody else want TWERK instead of TWIRL?
* I had no idea that the PUP TENTS of my youth are now a thing of the past.
* I couldn't think of a single Hindu god that would fit the space provided, until I finally realized it was "duty" and not "deity".
* I've heard of a BANYAN tree before, but had no idea it was a variety of fig tree. Learning moment of the day.
Good morning!
The title in my printout from the LAT site was simply "L. I stumbled here and there (Outlaw/BAdguy/BANDIT, SEdatE/SERENE, Ear/EYE), but eventually got 'er done.
I thought the clue said "Asian of Narnia," and also read "deity" in the clue for DHARMA. The woman who cut my hair last time was a Dharma from Rio de Janeiro. No Greg in sight.
I know that the dictionary lists "pour down" as a second definition of TEEM, but have you ever heard anybody use the word that way? I haven't. (Boy, it really teemed in Nebraska this week!)
Don't know why, but TESSERA came to me immediately. UNHAT was all perps -- and it's still ugly. (He UNHATTED hizseff when the lady passed by.)
Emmylou Harris has been a silvery blonde for years. She went prematurely grey in her 20's.
I did this one after midnight last night when it came online. The sciatica is keeping me awake. The puzzle filled faster than most Sundays.
I was looking for an abbr. for 9D because of FDR in the clue.
CC, DEPP is not my type either. You are the only one I ever heard say that.
For me TEA WAGON is an old fashioned tea cart. Don't the British say tea trolley?
At first I tried the I for the E in REATAS
I have often heard (or read?) about rain TEEMing down, and I have read SENSATE in articles, often with sexual connotations. So many words that people find obscure are quite prevalent in written material.
We do a lot of TWIRLing in square dancing, never twerking.
Fun puzzle, fun expo. Thanks, Melanie and CC.
Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.
Lot of learning moments. C.C. mentioned the lack of cheater squares, which was an unknown term to me. One of the top hits was this, with a very clear explanation. Thanks, C.C.! No no-nos for the PADRES was news. Did not know Brahms wrote a TETRAD of symphonies, nor that BANYAN was a fig tree. I don't know Jack LEW. And TEEM? Never heard of (or read) that usage. I had TEE- and still couldn't figure it out, I was sure one of the other letters was wrong.
Fun theme entries -- I especially liked MILE HIGH CUB. In the end, I finished in good time, so I think Barry G. is right about the fill.
C.C., I also enjoyed AMELIE. This was a lucky break for me, as I don't see a lot of recent movies, so I tend to skip over clues like "Transcendence" actor. Thanks for the writeup!
Yes C.C., the "L" in BLONDE did bother me. Surprisingly though, I skimmed right over the stray "L" in MILE. Go figure.
Hand up for filling in TESSERA immediately. Maybe crosswords are making me smarter? The FDR clue didn't throw me off, but only because I already had the E and the L from the across answers.
Our kitchen renovation is done, with one exception: the faucet. We had ordered a Delta Touch, but after installing it, found out that:
1.) Touching it didn't turn it on. (I later read that this is a common problem.)
2.) You have to leave the water faucet in the "on" position all the time to make it work.
3.) The connectors from the "touch" mechanism to the pull down hose leak. (Missing bushings!)
So we removed the entire "touch" assembly and are using it a a regular faucet until the replacement arrives tomorrow (Not a "touch" faucet), and I can return this one. UGH!
Well, first of all, if two would join the MILE HIGH C(l)UB, would the question be: YOUR PACE OR MINE?
Yes, I remember the earthquake. Mostly because the Chinese government refused help from other countries. It seemed as though they didn't want any bad news for the res of the world to see.
This was a nice, easy Sunday puzzle with POSSE & PASSE, OOH & AAH, and a RAT & MOUSE. I got the theme a PEA BARGAIN and finished with THE POT THICKENS. Had ELI for ELK and didn't know OER and like C.C. had never heard of TESSARA ( or SENSATE or NAIF). Three new words.
Other than in crosswords, I have never seen the words REATA or RIATA.
Other unknowns this morning were DHARMA, ELAINE, AMELIE, DEPP, & BANYAN. I initially wrote WAIF for NAIF but BANYAW just didn't look correct.
Barry- TWERK was also the first thing I thought for dance move and didn't know BANYAN was a fig tree.
The Week in Review: M 5:34 T 5:22 W 7:49 T 6:10 F FIW S 34:23 S 23:16
Friday: I was pretty sure the problem was in the NE. I didn't know "Michael of Arrested Development" and wasn't sure about the "Greek peak" so CERO/OSSO seemed reasonable. I even tried a vowel run for the last letter with no success. So I was a bit surprised when, after turning on the red letters at the 30-minute mark, the "O" lit up. Apparently I had tried the vowel run before I'd corrected a typo elsewhere and forgot to try it again.
Saturday: I was looking at another FIW and, once again, the NE was suspicious. I had THE NORM for "18 for graduating high school" and didn't know the batting champ so HARR seemed as good a name as any. TLTS didn't look right but I figured it could be some obscure aviation term. Then I tried FLTS (flights?) but that only made things worse. The 30-minute mark came and went but I didn't want a repeat of Friday's FIW so I stuck with it and, somehow, AGE occurred to me.
See y'all next weekend.
A fun theme and enough challenge to make it enjoyable overall, but Unhat is just so ugly that it depreciates the overall effort.
Had most of the problems and unknowns mentioned. But had to take a FIW since I had Flew In instead of Blew In, giving me Fig Name. Let it stand while moving on, and never went back to rethink it. Fie!!
More rain overnight, but thankfully it was only 5-6 hundredths. As a sign of how saturated things are, there are puddles from that little drib of rain. Normally that would barely leave the sidewalks wet once it stopped.
Hello Puzzlers -
Pretty much steamed right through this one, except for the SW corner. For some reason that part was stubborn. Hand up for Riatas before Reatas. Tried Dharva before Dharma 'cause it looked Indian.
Morning, C.C., I'm glad I wasn't the only one unaware of the Padres' situation. As to the earthquake, I barely recall the event. I presume it got less news coverage than, say, the more recent tsunami.
Marti - so glad you're dumping the touch faucet. We looked at those at a fancy plumbing shop, where the top-notch saleswoman admitted she had one in her own kitchen and hated it.
Anon-T from last night - I agree! Audiences are overusing the standing ovation. A response like that should be reserved for something truly out of the ordinary - like that Russian troupe.
To clarify, I mean the Russian team from Britain's Got Talent that Bill G linked last night.
Good Morning, CC and friends. Interesting Sunday puzzle. I got The Pot Thickens after a pass or two, which helped with the rest of the theme answers.
I learned a lot from today's puzzle. I learned that:
~ the Cheshire Cat's smile is not Creepy, but TOOTHY;
~ Start of many tributes is not Here's, but ODE TO;
~ Satisfied a Debt is not Paid Up, but REPAID;
~ Come Down Hard is not Slam, but TEEM;
~ Do a Farmer's Job is not Plow, but SEED.
UNHAT seems off.
I quickly wrote in PUP TENTS, but had no idea they were PASSE.
My favorite clue of the puzzle was One Hoping to Find a School = ANGLER.
Happy Mother's Day!
QOD: A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them. ~ Victor Hugo. (Feb. 26, 1802 ~ May 22, 1885)
Both TEEM and SENSATE are misused in this puzzle.
"Teem" relates to flow. Yes, there is such a thing as a "teeming rain," but it has nothing to do with the force of the fall; it has only to do with the amount that has fallen.
"Sensate" relates to the thing felt, not to the feeler. The definition in Collins' dictionary, e.g., is "(1) perceived by the senses, (2) (obsolete) having the power of sensation."
Wonderful puns and a nice Sunday exercise!
Musings
-Joann’s hairdresser’s 18-yr-old son SASSES and disrespects her. That didn’t start yesterday.
-48 yrs in education and I had to do cwd’s to hear EL-HI
-Many NFL draftees will be fighting to be KEPT on the roster
-MOLES even in the sand traps!
-Waiting to be REPAID by family members strained our marriage
-My TEEM is this or means full of
-Wanna do some serious SEEDING?
-My aunt always sang of the mockingbird’s TRILL
-ESE, Montana, I’ll be Lincoln today and so if you want to meet…
-AA gatherings talk of a “wagon” from which my brother KEPT falling
-Some sportswriters will write, “He TWIRLED a no-hitter”. A bit much?
-In Bob Crosby’s 1940’s song, The Big Noise BLEW IN from where?
-Gotta run!
Husker, that noise came from a pricey northern Chicago suburb. My H.S. girlfriend spent a summer there, working as an au pair.
Didn't really like UNHAT. SENSATE was a bit of a stretch as well, but overall pretty straightforward.
I'm a big baseball guy, and would have thought that with all the great pitching the Padres had in the mid 80's (Show, Thurmond, Lollar, Hawkins, even ex White Sox Lamar Hoyt) they would have had someone in that group throw a no-no. They sure made my Cubs look bad in the '84 play-offs.
Good Morning:
Caught the theme immediately, partly because of the give-away title. Liked the theme and fill, overall, except for the truly jarring "unhat". I, also misread deity for duty and my learning moment was Banyan being a fig tree.
Happy Mother's Day to all.
Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Daman, and most of the rest of the current leading men are not my type, either. Cary Grant and Gregory Peck, OTOH, well, now you're talking!!! [Sigh]
Have a great day.
What a week this was: either a DNF or a FIW! I thought today was going to be the one I finished correctly, but I was wrong. Thanks Melanie, for the challenge. Thanks for the expo, C.C.
The top third filled in fairly easily, then I got answers here and there until getting frustrated and quitting.
My favorite clue/ans was 108a: gathering that may involve a wagon/TEA. My daughter and I are going to a tea this afternoon. That should be fun.
Happy Mothers' Day to all the wonderful moms on the corner.
Pat
Hello, friends! And happy Mothers' Day to you mothers!
WEES. This was a slow sashay and the L theme helped. Yes I gulped seeing BLOND and MILE but then the main word fit the theme.
DHARMA did not occur to me and still have no idea what it means and of course PADRES didn't come forward either. Drat! Drat sports!
However some clever fill made up for that. Agree about UNHAT; it's really awkward. Hawaii has some enormous BANYAN trees though I didn't know they were fig. California has many fig trees.
I used to love Johnny DEPP but he's so weird lately, I've written him off.
Have a delightful day, everyone!
I finished yesterday's puzzle but was too busy to post and it was all such a struggle anyway that all joy was lost on it.
TEEM and SENSATE are not misused. Words frequently have more than one use or meaning.
Some dictionaries say that TEEM means to "rain HARD".
In these examples SENSATE means "physically aware."
“Being sensate to pleasures and especially to pains is the true currency of ethics.”
New York TimesJul 18, 2011
“It’s hard to deny that animals are not sensate to pleasure after studying these joyous photographs, and reading Dr. Balcombe’s persuasive arguments.
New York TimesJul 18, 2011
UNHAT is archaic, not used these days, nevertheless it is a legitimate English word. It seems that it appears only in premium unabridged dictionaries and in period novels. I have seen it before.
It just dawned on me that I forgot to thank Melanie and CC for making my Sunday morning so enjoyable. Thank you both!
Loved this puzzle by Melanie. The phrases were cute and made me smile a lot. Fav's were BARNEYSTONE and FROSTEDFAKES. Thank you Melanie!
Nice write-up C.C. Thank you for your input.
Happy Mother's Day to all out there!
Happy Mothers' Day.
I had fun with this one, but had to put it down several times. Busy morning.
FROSTED FAKES broke open the puzzle for me. Thanks Melanie and C.C.
That Big Noise is from Winnetka. Love that piece.
Have a fine rest of the day.
Hi Y'all! This puzzle was fun & funny, Melanie. I especially liked PEA BARGAIN and POWER PANTS. (I gotta get me some of the latter.)
TESSERA was new. Didn't know BANYANS were figs so Googled this after I was done. One of the BANYAN sites was the hotel my son's family stayed in on Maui so I had seen pictures of their famous tree.
Yucatan native = MAYAN was a gimmee since the exchange students who stayed in our home one summer were from there.
Never seen SENSATE before. Tried SENSual.
Thanks for everything, C.C. I have an HP Photosmart Premium printer. The only earthquake I remember in 1976 was giving birth to my youngest. Sorry!
I rejected HOT for wings until the very last. Never heard of Amelie, "Amelia" was the only movie I could think of when some of the perps were in.
After seeing Jack LEW's scribble, I wonder if we really want our money handled by someone who can't learn to write his name.
YR, do you think twerking might help your sciatica? Don't think twirling is good for it. I'll bet Miley doesn't have sciatica so it must work for her. LOL! (But not laughing at your pain. Been there, done that.)
What, no link for a BEACHED BLONDE?
Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate it.
How about "secret agent castaway" = BEACHED BOND? Gets rid of both l's.
Happy Mother's Day (or is it Mothers' Day?)
I enjoyed the puzzle and thought the theme was clever and fun.
There is a HUGE and beautiful fig tree in Santa Barbara; not a banyan tree though.
I agree that UNHAT is bad though I figure the neither Melanie nor Rich could figure out how to improve it so we have to tolerate it for the sake of the rest of the puzzle. I feel the same way about ELHI.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Melanie Miller, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
Husker Gary: I was ready to reply with Winnetka, but Madame DeFarge beat me to it. Good for her. We both live not far from Winnetka.
Puzzle was fine. Only took me 2 1/2 hours. Not bad for me.
Liked the theme. My first answer was YOUR PACE OR MINE. That clued me in.
My tough area was the West. I had CHIRP for 83A for a long time. Finally got a couple perps that fixed that to TRILL. Fixed everything else in that area too. Also had PEERS for 65D. Between those two errors the West was a mess. All's well that ends well.
PUP TENTS was easy. They are just too heavy to use anymore. They were canvas. The newer tents are featherweight.
I also read Duty for 15D as Deity. Oh well.
Missed Friday and Saturday due to selling Vidalia onions. Took off today because of Mothers' Day and church work, etc. Plus marginal weather. I will hit it tomorrow.
Many of the older politicians, as FDR, belonged to many fraternal groups.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Greetings!
Thanks, Melanie and CC! Nice puzzle. Great theme! No cheats.
Did not know that a Banyan tree was a fig. Have had 2 fig trees in my yard for many years. The Japanese beetles make quick work of the fruit. There is a astounding Moreton's Bay fig by the RR station in Santa Barbara.
DHARMA was perped. Scratched head at TEEM.
Cheers!
Rats, my paragraph just disappeared.
I cooked Barbara and me omelets this morning. There was mushrooms, green peppers and jack cheese inside and sour cream, avocados and tomatoes on top. Then we went over to have lunch with Bonnie and Jordan. Then I slept off some of the surfeit of food followed by a short bike ride and a macchiato. Now I'm watching the Dodgers on the computer, watching TV and reading some Louis L'Amour. Oh, but first I did a little plowing, slopped the hogs and split some firewood. Say, what happened to our gentleman farmer?
Full Definition of HASP
: any of several devices for fastening; especially : a fastener especially for a door or lid consisting of a hinged metal strap that fits over a staple and is secured by a pin or padlock
Illustration of HASP
http://www.merriam-webster.com/art/dict/hasp.gif
PK, thanks for making me laugh. I can picture all of us twerking at a square dance! LOL. I think twerking would do me in. I am just looking forward to being able to TWIRL again a month from now.
Bill G, your @4:00 post led me to reevaluate my antipathy to ELHI. Having been in education since 1960 and never having seen ELHI except in crosswords I considered it illegitimate. K-12 is far more common. I see that ELHI is used and is even in the Scrabble dictionary, so I have to accept it. I have found an outdside reference to ELHI.
Link ELHI
I accept UNHAT, too, as an obsolete or archaic word that was used at one time.
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