Without the reveal, I had no clue what the theme might be. So let's start with that:
69-Across. Poker request, and a literal hint to what's hidden in the answers to the starred clues : ANTE UP.
Aha! All of the starred clues were "down" answers. And you can find ANTE climbing "up" the grid in each one, like 3-Down. *Cold War fleet :
S
O
V
I
E
T
N
A
V
Y.
10-Down. *Honey and Boo Boo, e.g. : PET NAMES. I was thinking along the line of bears!
27-Down. *Wings eaters' aids : WET-NAPS.
31-Down. *Austroasiatic language : VIETNAMESE. The language family has nothing to do with Austria. In Latin "austro" means "south."
39-Down. *Prepare for a bath : GET NAKED. And then?
Across
1. GM car buyer's option : ONSTAR. Love it when I fill in 1A immediately.
7. Make more powerful, with "up" : SOUP. Anyone else want "beef"?
11. White lie : FIB.
14. Illinois River city : PEORIA.
15. "Gift From the Sea" author __ Morrow Lindbergh : ANNE.
16. Milk : USE.
17. Go back : REVERT.
18. Not quite closed behind you : LEFT AJAR.
20. Foreman foe : ALI.
21. She played TV's Maude : BEA. Arthur.
23. Food processor job : MINCING.
24. Serengeti scavenger : HYENA.
26. Try to hit : SWAT AT.
28. Turn to the right, say? : TIGHTEN. "Right-y tight-y, left-y loose-y."
30. Chess activity : MOVES.
34. Tailless cat : MANX. They are named after the Isle of Man.
36. Poetry or painting : ART.
37. Published in installments : SERIAL.
38. George's lyrical brother : IRA. The brothers Gershwin.
39. Strangers' exchanges : GLANCES. As good an excuse as I will ever get to link Ol' Blue Eyes. 2:04
41. Important time period : ERA.
42. Protective embankments : LEVEES.
44. "So it was you!" : AHA!
45. Work meas. : FT. LB. Foot pound.
46. "Cat got your tongue?" : SAY IT.
47. East Lansing athlete : SPARTAN.
49. Banded rock : GNEISS.
51. Easy __ : AS ABC. Had to check perps before deciding on "pie" or ABC.
54. Pub pick : PALE ALE.
57. Jan. honoree : MLK. Martin Luther King.
59. Stain : MAR.
60. Dancing style that went viral on YouTube in 2013 : TWERKING.
62. Mocha resident : YEMENI.
64. Studio creation : SET.
65. Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA.
66. Cooks slowly : ROASTS.
67. Crown installer: Abbr. : DDS. AHA! Saturday we had DMD. DDS is more Thursday-friendly, I guess.
68. Poker request : DEAL.
Down
1. Angel Network charity founder : OPRAH.
2. Hockey Hall of Famer Cam : NEELY. Gimme - he played for the Boston Bruins, and is now president of that organization.
4. Square root of nove : TRE. Italian "three."
5. Auto safety device : AIRBAG.
6. Give a star, perhaps : RATE.
7. See 61-Down : SAL. 61-Down. With 7-Down, Hayworth title role, with "My" : GAL. From 1942.
8. Like some bands : ONE MAN.
9. Out of shape : UNFIT.
11. McIntosh alternative : FUJI. Duh! The edible apples, not computers.
12. "This __ outrage!" : IS AN.
13. Baffin Bay sight : BERG.
19. Matthew Fox or Peter Coyote : ACTOR. They sound like they could be in the book "Wind in the Willows," along with Mr. Toad and Mr. Badger.
22. Latin stars : ASTRA.
25. Put the kibosh on : NIX.
29. Dutch portraitist Frans : HALS. A master of portraiture.
32. Countess' husband : EARL.
33. Big chunk : SLAB.
34. Wire units : MILS.
35. House painter's calculation : AREA.
37. Char : SEAR.
40. Great divide : CHASM.
43. Peak in an Eastwood film : EIGER. "The Eiger Sanction." 1975.
45. Scale fourths : FAs. After do, re and mi. Want to learn all about solmization?
47. Earth pigment : SIENNA.
48. Tangle with : TAKE ON.
50. Say "prob'ly," say : ELIDE.
52. African language group : BANTU.
53. Like new bills : CRISP.
54. VA concern : PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
55. Gobsmacked : AWED. Great word, "gobsmacked."
56. Al Green's "__ Stay Together" : LET'S. Great classic love song, but I already linked one today...
58. Harp constellation : LYRA.
63. Yoga __ : MAT. Ommmmm....
...mmmmMarti
51 comments:
CED was still looking for a link for DECODING RING, so I posted a limerick for him last night, but so late few of you probably saw it.
Going to a party, needed something to bring.
Scratch-n-sniff playing cards seemed like the thing!
The perfume was neat,
The smells were so sweet,
And everyone wanted a DECK ODORING!
Morning, all!
This one was slow all over for me today. The cross referential clue at 7D bogged me down since I'm just not up on my Rita Hayworth films. And in the NE corner, I knew something had gone horribly wrong when I ended up with FUJI at 11D. Turns out, of course, that it was actually correct. Apples, huh? Go figure...
No other unknowns that I can recall, but the overall cluing seemed ramped up a notch or two in terms of difficulty.
Interesting puzzle.... Got stuck on many until perps came in. Isn't it Supe up as in super...not soup..
Good Morning, Marti and friends. I found this to be a much easier puzzle than the usual Thursday fare. I liked this theme. My only write-over was to want Return in lieu of REVERT for Go Back.
How ironic to have the Auto Safety Device in today's puzzle after all the news about the AIR BAG recall.
Hurricane season is just over a week away. There is a major armoring project on the LEVEEs
LEVEEs in the New Orleans area.
I had the FIB, so knew immediately that the McIntosh alternative was the FUJI.
When is a door not a door ... when it's LEFT A JAR!
QOD: Humor and seriousness are not in opposition to each other. ~ Al Frankin (b. May 21, 1951)
Good morning!
Got the theme immediately....after filling in 69a. Gotta love a puzzle that's got GET NAKED in it.
Marti, I was thinking raincoats rather than apples, but hand up for BEARS. "Solmization" sounds like something that could get you sent to prison. So Guido came up with that stuff. I only know him from the old xword clue "Guido's high note" -- ELA.
We used to have a MANX cat, Tadpole, who looked a lot like that photo -- same color combo, but the fur pattern resembled a round target on each side. He was the first of several cats that we lost to the local coyote.
When I first visited my current DDS seven years ago, I had broken a tooth and needed a crown. I was "gobsmacked" that he was able to prep/fabricate/fit the permanent crown in that single session.
PEORIA, that stereotypical American city -- "Will it play in Peoria?"
jeff sills @ 6:26, the origins of the phrase "soup up" are not clear. But the OED does confirm that as the correct spelling, not "supe up." I read many different sources to try to understand the origins of the phrase, but most point to the "soup" or drugs injected into horses to make them run faster. There is no evidence that the phrase is derived from "supercharged."
d-otto, yes, it was interesting to hear Guido doing something useful instead of just providing us with crosswordese.
@jeff: Many years ago I posed the exact same question to etymologist Evan Morris (a.k.a. "The Word Detective"). You can read his answer to me on his website here (sixth answer down).
I am SO disappointed. I come to this blog every day to read Owen's brilliant limericks. I was really looking forward to seeing what he would do with Auntie Up.
Alas, all I get is a retread from last night.
Perhaps Moe will step up to the plate with a limerick about how he and Ray will meet in Pebble Beach And Tee Up.
Didn't figure out the theme until it was handed to me at 69A. But that didn't slow me down much. Only write-over was RECEDE (as the tide does) rather than REVERT, for "Go back".
Barry G., thanks for the link to Word Detective. There's another twenty minutes gone...
Nice to see "GNEISS" in the grid, one of my favorite spelling words. And "Strangers' exchanges" is a wonderful clue for "GLANCES"! In a similar vein, wouldn't "Chevy's destination?" make a fun clue for LEVEE? [An allusion to the lyrics of "American Pie", if you don't recognize it.]
Really enjoyed this creative theme, originally thought it was going to have to do with sodium as each one had Na in it. Got a little hung up because I put the GAL in the top clue and instead of SOUP I had GEAR up. Unique fill with GNEISS - one of those times you know you must be wrong with the start and then you're right!
Thanks Marti - enjoyed the Sinatra for a morning interlude and Peter for an entertaining puzzle.
My toehold was on the east coast and then it was smooth sailing on this clever puzzle.
Musings
-My GM answer and current ride is an ACADIA
--My first “make more powerful” was their tagline
-No MINCING here
-I don’t know ART, I just know it when I see it
-IRA’s “I’m just bidin’ my time, cuz that’s the kinda guy I’m” is a great almost “rhyme” with much ELIDIN’
-My “TWERKER” is in the shop
-Since the Vatican said no, Ronnie Howard built this SET
-I hope to never see my AIR BAG
-My grandfather was a changed man after returning from the front in WWI, but no one said PTSD then.
-Gotta run to Lincoln! We have the grandchildren on the same day that I am preparing for that, uh, very intimate procedure tomorrow.
Good morning!
I didn't see it, but thanks, Peter, for a clever theme. I wanted to beef up instead of SOUP up. Last to fall was the cross of EIGER and GNEISS. Even DH didn't recall Eiger after a desperate call across the house. I did not know GNEISS, but I learned about it here, which is why I love this Corner. Personal favorite is ELIDE. I used my understanding of elision to crack teenage codes when I was teaching. I was good at it, and they didn't like that. ;-)
Thanks, Marti, for the upward climb through this one!
Limey:
Auntie up? How droll and obvious a yenta.
And tee up is better, if golf is what you're inta.
But turn it 'round
To coming down,
Like lava flows descending from Mount ETNA!
(Spent too much time futilely searching for an old filk song, "That's Not Gneiss" to write a good limerick.)
Disney's Cricket, to a Swede-
YEMENI
VIETNAMESE leader using a food processor- HO Chi MINCING
Good morning everyone.
Thought I might be left some white AREAS, by Peter was good enough to leave some perps that allowed me to reach out and bridge the tough spots. Got it done w/o lookups or white-out. Did not know TWERKING, NEELY, gobsmacked (but AWED made sense,) FUJI, and a few others, but perps helped stitch it all together. Got the unifier but could not translate it into the theme hint, but luckily, it wasn't needed. Thanks Marti for the explanation.
28a - TIIGHTEN to the right, usually. Nat. gas fittings tighten to the left. Also some left-side lug nuts on wheels and left bicycle pedals. There may be other instances.
Lime Rickey @ 7:44
Since you haven't gone "blue", I can't send this via email.
Dear Limey:
In real life, you may be protoplasm,
But here, you are just a phantasm;
Whenever you "ante"
You seem to be "anti-".
Must you always be full of sar-CHASM??
"puzzling thoughts":
FIW, due to putting BREAKING into the spot where TWERKING belonged. Had SWINGS before SWAT AT, but otherwise, the puzzle was clean. Not too hard nor too easy. I kept seeing the letters "ETNA" in the *'rd answers, but didn't consider using it as an acronym to solve the theme. Of course, with the theme clue/solve being at the end of the puzzle, I waited until the end to get "ANTE UP", and then the V8 can hit me . . .
I apologize that Rainman and I got carried away with our golfing memories yesterday; won't happen again. We continued on via email so as not to bore you all with our war stories.
Feel free to email me if you'd like to talk about things off-line. Address is in my profile.
Hi gang -
Kinda crunchy, but less so than the typical Thus.
I don't think I could ever COME UP with this kind of a theme.
PUMP and RAMP before SOUP. PAL before SAL.
Solmization?!? I thought it was solfège.
Jerome - HA!
Owen - clever, as always.
Howard - Chevy's destination is a great Thus - Fri clue, IMHO; and if I have the chance, I'll steal it.
I got UP close and personal with my AIR BAG one time. It was on the Southfield Freeway on MLK day. It was not fun at all.
I have absolutely no doubt that the root cause of the current AIR BAG fiasco is somebody tying to cut cost.
Marti - do you have a song link quota?
Grandaughter Amanda is graduating from H.S. When she was a freshman she performed a two couple dance to this great song. The other three participants were seniors. She'll be attending a summer intensive with the Rockets again this year - this time at their invitational week. Very exciting.
Looking forward to a PALE ALE a bit later int he day.
Cool regards!
JzB
Smooth run after getting the reveal, and the rest of the theme answers filled in quickly.
Thanks to Peter for a nice puzzle. And to Marti for a very nice write-up.
Fairly easy for a Thursday with only a few unknowns. I also had no idea of the theme until ANTE UP filled in. GAL SAL was filled from perps along with NEELY and HALS, having never heard of any of them.
DDS vs. DMD- I never heard of a DMD until last week when I saw some advertisements for dentists. Looked it up. Different schools call it differently but it's the same thing.
TWERKING is not a new thing in the New Orleans area. They've been doing it for years.
Good Morning:
I must be in a grumpy mood this fine morning because this was a Thumper for me.
Still, kudos to Peter for creativity and craftsmanship and to Marti for the sparkling and witty review.
Have a great day.
Hello, amigos y amigas!
Hip, hip hooray! I really liked this puzzle. Thank you Peter A. Collins. And thanks, Marti, for sorting it all out. The theme eluded me.
My pencil gravitated toward the east and finished that section quickly. Saw FUJI but didn't equate it with pears. Bosc are my favorite, very sweet and juicy.
I loved GLANCES, GNEISS, CHASM though TWERKING surprised me.
On the west side, had to work my way upward and took a long while for SOVIET NAVY since RETURN blocked the way. But REVERT to the rescue. TRE. I really need language lessons in Italian, French and German. Latin is no problem. ASTRA filled at once.
Have yourselves a wonderful day, everyone!
I had to guess the "M" in MILS as I had never heard the word before. My only complaint would be that whenever Movie or book clues are given in 2 spots in the puzzle, usually they follow one another. In today's puzzle it would read "My Sal Gal" (7D, 61D) for the Rita Hayworth movie. Kinda confused me for a while. Not a big deal though. Otherwise a 'tada"
Marti: Wonderful write-up.
I thought this was going to be a DNF ... but I put it down (twice) and worked it from left-to-right.
Really enjoyed the "ANTE-UP" theme.
Peter: Thank you for a FUN Thursday level puzzle.
Fave today, of course, was PALE ALE ... go figure.
Though GET NAKED was a close second ... lol
Glad I cut-back to only a "Half-shot" after each Lightning Goal scored last night.
Yeah, it is a Great-Day in Tampa Bay.
Cheers!
Good late morning to everyone,
Perps were the order of the day for me on this Thursday. FUJI, FTLB, MANX (began with minx) were those I can quickly recall.
I too found this a bit dicey. Nothing seemed to come easy. For 26A I was thinking baseball and kept trying to make Swing At fit, before settling for SWAT AT.
However in the end the dreaded DNF. Never heard of TWERKING, the T in PTSD remained absent, and AWED for Gobsmacking? OK, a learning moment.
Were off to the Godspeed Opera House to see a matinee performance of Guys And Dolls. Should be fun and will give Casey free reign to raise some Hell in our absence. And he will!
High grade metamorphic rock - GNIESS.
Not so high grade - Gnephew.
Cheers!
JzB
Whew! I got it! Worried that a couple of items were going to mess things up, but in the end I guessed the right ones, and Yay! I especially loved all those UPside down ANTEs! Many thanks, Peter, and you too, Marti, for your fun write-up. Only sorry you didn't show Miley Cyrus TWERKING!
Never heard of wire units MILS or Work measures FT.LBs.
Lots of sweet trips down memory lane with BEA Arthur, and IRA Gershwin, and others mixed in with the more modern TWERKING and HONEY BOO BOO.
Have a great day, everybody!
Definitely a fun puzzle. I didn't think I was going to finish, but one thing led to another, & before I knew it I was stuck in the NW corner. Never heard of square root of nove, or or Hockey Cam, but a little tinkering gave me Peoria, which led to Oprah, Onstar, Neely & Ali! (Hmm, a lot of names. I guess it's good to be lucky in Peoria...)
OwenKL! Thank You! You have freed me from an obsessive & unfruitful search!
11D Fuji i circled for confirmation from the Blog. To me, Fuji is a mountain, or photographic film. & 16A milk = use seemed a bit of a stretch...
Anyhoo, I think I am in a bit of a slump, because there has got to be a better ante up pic out there somewhere...
Busy day, daughter #3 broke her wrist in dance class last night, so it's off the to orthopedist for a cast today. ( I blame myself... I did have the passing thought yesterday that my life was getting boring. What a fool I am...)
Hello everybody. Cool puzzle today. What I liked best about it were the wonderful fill such as GNEISS, TWERKING, and SOVIET NAVY, and fun clues such as for ONE MAN, TIGHTEN, and GLANCE. An excellent display of imagination and humor.
Best wishes to you all.
Fast for a Thursday.
As soon as I got ANTE UP, the long fills came pretty fast. Perps helped with the rest. No blanks left.
TWERKING...How can I put it? Disgusting and gross. It reminds me of an animal in heat. Neither attractive nor sexy. Miley Cyrus, tongue out and backside gyrating is not a pretty sight.
Al Green's "LET'S GET TOGETHER"... Now that's sexy. I wouldn't mind gyrating with my husband to that.
GO RANGERS! I may live in Florida, but I am a New Yorker forever.
Quick puns I thought of:
Advice to a whiny vacuum cleaner?
Ans: SUCK IT UP.
Where a baby chick keeps her money?
Ans: CLUTCH BAG (or) What a mother hen steps on to change car gears? ANS: CLUTCH PEDAL.
THAT's all I got folks. See ya.
I found it interesting to find AHA so close to TAKE ON. Its been linked before but what the heck, here it is again. The song, by the synth-pop band from Norway, reached number 1 when I was in high school. Its a song I love to sing when by myself in the car so I can miserably try to hit the high notes(windows up of course).
You're right, Coneyro, that Cyrus dance was pretty gross. Probably good move to keep it off, Marti.
Got 'em all, with no lookups. My one screwup was to settle for FIJI and ISE. I didn't know FUJI was anything, and I took my chances on a secret meaning for ISE.
I also forget to look inside for the ETNA theme. But, well, I'm happy anyway...
desper-otto:
I have never lost a cat to another predator, nor have any of my cats ever preyed on birds or other wildlife.
Because I don't let them out loose at all. They do have the run of the screen room. Also, the most vicious invasive species turns out to be cats. They also live a LOT longer when they are house cats.
I thought the puzzle was quite clever and suitably tough for a Thursday.
C'mon people! Nobody has seized on the opportunity to link something for GET NAKED!?!
Very enjoyable puzzle, thanks for the write-up, Marti.
Very gnice!
I think SOUP should have been SUPE as super as in super stosk car racing.
"souped up" vs. "suped up"
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Peter! Great expo, Marti!
Forgot to look for the theme when I was done, so Marti had to clue me in.
Never guessed WET NAPS. Thought that was an accident while sleeping. I had WET but the NAPS was all perps, as were NEELY & TRE.
Knew it was apples since I have bought that kind with a little sticker on each with the name. However, it's been a while and I put in FIJI first.
Hahtoolah: Is it just me or do others think that type of LEVEE reinforcement is "too little, too late". Me thinks they need a lot of big rocks or cement.
We've had GNEiSS before and I've had it the last two days in a Kindle game. Hardly ever have had it there before.
My daughter's air bag failed in a wreck the day after Christmas. Luckily it didn't deploy shrapnel. My granddaughter's air bag did deploy and saved her from injury. Head on crash in a slow-moving heavy traffic area. The 86 yr. old man who hit them had "No Driving" stamped on his Texas driver's license. He was two states away from Texas so about due for an accident.
Loved the "Take Me On" link graphics & song.
Jazzbumpa @ 10:02, yes, I have a self-imposed one-song-per-blog quota, and I try to pick the most appealing (to me!) one.
Lucina @ 10:41, I really need lessons in Spanish. Wannna swap tutorials?
CED, sorry to hear about daughter #3’s woes. But a broken wrist is easier to deal with than a broken heart, no?
Coneyro @ 12:15, I’m with you on both TWERKING and LETS [STAY] TOGETHER.
Anon@2:10 -- We've had a couple of cats who lived to the ripe old age of 20+. We got both of them as small kittens. I think it might be easier to raise a house cat if that cat has never known the outdoors. Our current cats are all "rescue" cats who spent many months, if not years, outdoors before we met them. We've had them all spayed/neutered, but not declawed. Yes, they might live longer if we kept them cooped up, but would they be happier? I don't think so.
This is one of those themes that really didn't do much for me, but I liked the overall fill (and the puzzle) very much. And I guess you really can't separate those from each other. Never would have gotten the theme without the reveal, but the solve was a good time.
So, in summary: Gneiss job!
Marti:
I'd love tutorials from you!! We could try to prove that you can teach old ladies new tricks!
OOps. Marti, that came out wrong. I meant myself, the old lady.
PK, I think almost everyone in the New Orleans area would disagree with you. Too late, maybe, but 17-foot piling is much more stable than a "lot of big rocks." Let's hope we never have to test it!
HeartRx@4:51
Funny you should say that...
She is a Junior in High School, & has her heart set on Berklee College of Music in Boston. So much so that she intends to do a summer program for piano to ensure her acceptance.
That is all up in the air now. She was to leave July 11th, but the Orthopedist today is saying 6 to 8 weeks in a cast.
We really do not know yet, as she must stay in a splint for 3 weeks for the swelling to go down before she can be cast. If it heals well, she may still go to Boston.
Nas @2:11 Mr Meow is not happy you made me look...
Strange Ante... Do you get the cat if you win?
Greetings!
Nice puzzle, Peter; great write-up, Marti!
No problems. NEELY was perps. Nice to see FT.LB.
Good luck, Gary!
Cheers!
Lucina @ 6:02, HaHa!! I am always looking forward to being an "Old Lady." So far, the ages for said state have continually increased. From 50+ to 60+ and lately, to 70 or 80+... (I should be so lucky to live that long!!)
CED @ 6:02, well, I wish her well! Berklee is certainly a worthy goal!! Has she also considered the summer programs at Tanglewood?
SwampCat: The article didn't mention the pilings --only bermuda grass and matting. That didn't seem adequate for the job. I Googled a more comprehensive plan article that mentions the many steel neoprene (?) coated pipes used as a barrier in rebuilding the levee. This sounds more like it might work. I'm glad to see this. Louisiana has had such scandalous neglect in the past on flood projects, its time there was some real protection.
As the wife and mother of dirt movers, I've watched the building of dams, etc. on a much smaller scale. Saw the big flood gates in downtown San Antonio, TX. I also saw them installing that matting in Colorado to stop erosion of fire-denuded slopes in Mesa Verde.
Hey all!
Late to the party and not much to add that hasn't been said/linked. I liked the puzzle and the theme helped me get some of the fill. Thanks Mr. Collins. And thanks Marti for 65a - yep, another DNF for -T.
AS ABC caused me consternation before the V8 hit - so I'm going to say that was fav.
LA's LEVEES have existed forever and mostly do their job (NOLA is below sea level for goodness sake).
PK - The gates in San Antonio are really huge and cool. I understand they drop w/ in 1 min of go. I can't imagine the FT. LB. of force they produce.
After his Iraq tour, my bro has (mild?) PTSD. He still marches on but won't SAY IT until many PALE ALEs are ingested.
Do we really have to put TWERKING into the lexicon?
Cheers, -T
Way more that you wanted to know about the SOUP'd up San Antonio flood plan (search on page for northern flood gate). C, -T
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