Two weeks, so it must be time for another Jeffrey Jem. The concluding "F" in the final word in a known phrase is removed leaving a new phrase humorously but correctly clued. After all of the 'add a letter' puzzles, here we have one with a disappearing letter. I was most impressed that he found 5 such phrases and each of the resulting new ones are very evocative and reasonable. Like the comment C.C. made last Sunday about Melanie's W, I found it unfortunate we have the MFA/FLESH crossing leaving a single F in the grid. I see the problem since the placement of two of the theme fill restricted the choices, but in a perfect world...We have a nice mini-theme of singer songwriters, as well as many interrelated concepts. Not much in the way of long fill, ACCENT, AUBURN, EXCELS, POLLEN, SAVIOR, SULLEN, UNREAL, VENEER, ELEVATES, SCENE TWO but plenty of road blocks. Let us get going....
18A. USDA-approved cheese? : LEGAL BRIE
24A. Query when a certain queen goes missing? : WHERE'S THE BEE
40A. Plow one's recently purchased field?: TURN OVER A NEW LEA
50A. Revolutionary as a successful businessman? : EXECUTIVE CHE
62A. Improved sci-fi computer? : BETTER HAL
On that rather special note let us move on....
Across:
1. Activities for seniors : PROMS. High school, not for me and you.
6. Cinematographer's deg. : MFA. Master of Fine Arts.
9. __ Summer: U.S. Naval Academy training program : PLEBE. A logical guess.
14. "Service at the Speed of Sound" franchise : SONIC. We have them here, but I am more familiar with Freaky Fast.
15. Not just some : ALL.
16. Ran very slowly : OOZED. Sadly, I associate the word with wounds...
17. Selassie of Ethiopia : HAILE. This was once a regular in puzzles, but his fame has dimmed, but this week a comeback?
20. Actor's study, perhaps : ACCENT. Are you all as amazed as I am at how well non-Americans like Stephen "Bill" Moyer, Simon "Jane" Baker, Hugh "House" Lawrie and oodles more are so believable with their accents? They often practice on a 64D. Studio __ : LOT.
22. King David's predecessor : SAUL. and some more bible, 11D. Book of __ : EZRA. This is the story of the first return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian diaspora and the rebuilding of the temple, and 31D. Genesis wife : LEAH. Along with her sister Rachel, she married Jacob.
23. Gothic novelist Radcliffe : ANN. A Friday obscurity, this reclusive AUTHOR was a Gothic pioneer.
27. Head of the Greek Titans? : TAU. Cute.
28. "I can't believe my eyes!" : UNREAL. Like many Gothic Novels.
32. Angled pipe : ELBOW. Almost right next to 39A. North Sea feeder : ELBE
36. Atomic theory pioneer : BOHR. What I know about this MAN was begun from reading Margaret Grimes' Inspector Jury mysteries.
43. Obi-Wan portrayer : ALEC. great actor, Mr. Guiness
44. Early romantic figure : EROS. The boy god.
45. Controlling chain : LEASH. Below LEA.
46. Morose : SULLEN.
48. Named period : AGE. So many un-PC thoughts....
57. Org. concerned with smog : EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.
60. Firm bosses : CEOS. Chief Executive Officers
61. One who delivers : SAVIOR. Not Jimmy John. Not my favorite clue/fill.
65. :50, another way : TEN TO. Ten 'til?
66. London __ : BROIL. I always marinate before the broiling. It is a matter of...
67. Source of pride : EGO.
68. Wrapped on a set : ENDED. On a movie, or tv series set. More show biz.
69. Family and economy : SIZES. I just love how companies change products from 32 oz to 28 oz, keep the price the same and think we are too stupid to notice the price increase. That is why our grocery stores now post the price per ounce,
70. Big top item : NET. Unless they are real daredevils, working without one is then the norm. That would show great...
71. Way : STYLE. Each blogger has a unique style.
Down:
1. "Baloney!" : PSHAW. Old timey expressions.
2. Orkin target : ROACH.
3. In abeyance : ON ICE. A non-CSO for Tin.
4. Track competitor : MILER. And, 53D. Relay or dash : EVENT. At the track meet.
5. Theatrical division : SCENE TWO. More show biz.
6. Wrong at the start? : MAL. The prefix, from the Latin meaning bad, e.g. LINK.
7. Crayola color renamed Peach in 1962 : FLESH.
8. Some microflora : ALGAE. Micro meaning tiny -flora plant
9. Floral dispersion : POLLEN. More flora(l). I love how these clues are together.
10. Part of an alley-oop play : LOB.
12. Flower children's gathering : BE IN. Been there....
13. "Gates of __": Bob Dylan song : EDEN. Not his biggest hit. 34D. "The Song of Old Lovers" songwriter : BREL Jacques. 51D. "Hallelujah" songwriter Leonard : COHEN. My mini-theme.
LINK 1. LINK 2. LNK 3.
19. Georgia rival since 1892 : AUBURN. A small town in Alabama but home to a national football power for years.
21. Org. that issues "Known Traveler" numbers : TSA. Transportation Security Administration
25. River floater : TUBER. Not a lost potato, but one of the memorable parts of going to law school in Gainesville, Florida.
26. "Maid of Athens, __ part": Byron : ERE WE.
"Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!
Hear my vow before I go,
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ."
29. Self-titled 1969 jazz album : ELLA. Always fun to showcase Ms. Fitzgerald. LISTEN. (4:29)
30. Five-spots : ABES. Five dollar bills. Who will be the woman on the $10?
32. LAX postings : ETAS. Estimated Time of Arrival.
33. Humdinger : LULU.
35. Rouen relative : ONCLE. Le mari de ma tante.
37. Valuable elemento : ORO. Gold!
38. Attacks : HAS AT.
41. Dental treatment : VENEER. Interesting that veneers were first used with wood and now we have porcelain ones for teeth, which were also wood at one time.
42. Improves : ELEVATES. Announcers are forever talking about athletes elevating their game, like LeBron, to the point where he....
47. Has no peer : EXCELS.
49. USO show audience : GIS.
52. Dictionary information : USAGE.
54. ___ Lou, Who girl who interrupted the Grinch's burglary : CINDY.
55. Travelocity option : HOTEL.
56. Slowly reduce : ERODE. Everything from rocks to confidence.
57. Recedes : EBBS. Well my energy is in fact...
58. Prefix with meter : PERImeter. This is a Friday usage, fer shure.
59. Familiar gamut : A TO Z.
63. Clip-on, maybe : TIE. I guess I am one of the few who still wears ties regularly, but no clip-ons. But it is time to move on, as another week comes to an end. Next time I see you all it will be summer and the days will be getting shorter. Hope you enjoyed our biweekly visit with JW, thanks Jeffrey; Lemonade out.
31 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks, Robert and Marti!
Sped through this one, a Thursday miracle.
Woke up very early. Had dentist appt. Ugh. Can't keep eyes open!
Cheers!
Hello Puzzlers -
A really busy life has kept me off the Corner lately, so I'm out of touch. Husker, hope you're well on the mend.
Zoomed through today's Jeff Wex at a Tuesday speed. Sussed the theme at the first such answer, which in turn made the center grid-spanner an easy guess with no perps. Simply could not parse Ere We until Lemon's expo, so that was a mystery, but the perps were solid.
Unrelated news: I seem to recall there are a few Dr. Who fans here. I had only limited exposure to the series in the 70's, so I've just begun a Netflix quest to start at the beginning and work through. Just finished the '63 - '64 season, a crude start but fun.
Morning, all!
Struggled with this one at first, but I eventually picked up on the theme at LEGAL BRIE and WHERES THE BEE, and that let me throw down TURN OVER A NEW LEA with only the E of LEA in place. That really broke things open for me, and I was also able to get BETTER HAL and EXECUTIVE CHE with only minimal perp help.
Had a brief stumble in the SE when I initially went with TEN OF before TEN TO, but the perps soon showed me the error of my ways. Everything else wen pretty smoothly for a Friday.
Caught a nice yellow perch yesterday that I actually brought home. I've never had one before, but I've heard that they are good eating so we'll have it for dinner tonight.
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Fun but challenging puzzle. I easily go that the theme with LEGAL BRIE, but found other parts of the puzzle to be a challenge.
I wanted Book of Ruth before EZRA.
Niels BOHR (1885 ~ 1962) was the recipient of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics.
QOD: Few friendships would survive if each one knew what his friend says of him behind his back. ~ Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623 ~ Aug. 19, 1662)
When Microsoft started forcing us to name our computers, so I called mine HAL. I am entering this on a BETTER HAL, ( HAL-3). Next alphabetical letters after IBM=HAL.
This one stated slowly but once I got TURN OVER A NEW with only three letters left I knew something would go missing. 1D-PSHAW- I've never heard it spoken and initially wrote NO HOW because HAILE was a gimme. ALGAE and POLLEN- side by side.
I had a few unknowns that easily worked themselves out- EZRA, TAU, ANN, BREL,FLESH, SONIC, EDEN, CINDY, and COHEN (HANDEL wouldn't fit).
$10 bill picture- yesterday I nominated CAITLYN JENNER, who seems perfect for messed up society.
Travelocity option? Getting back an overcharge was very hard but I was determined. Learned my lesson to never book any trip as a package. Get the airfare, hotel, and car rental SEPARATELY.
65A :50???? TEN TO- I guess we will be seeing TEN TIL or TEN OF in a future puzzle. But we had SCENE TWO also.
BE IN- oh it's a 'happening'- Just gotta be there.
This was an interesting puzzle to solve, but once I got the theme I found it easier than a Friday's puzzle should be.
Lemon- I wouldn't think CHE would be popular in South Florida, but it was a nice write up.
Good morning!
Very nice Friday romp; thanks, JW. All of the theme answers were cute, and once you'd sussed the gimmick they were pretty easy to guess. Lemon, I don't see your problem with "One who delivers" = SAVIOR. Isn't that literally what a savior is supposed to be, a deliverer? Sorta like Santa and Amazon and Pappa John's.
Dudley, for most Whovians the favorite Doctor is the one they watched first. In my case that's Tom Baker. I'd be interested in who your favorite Who turns out to be, since you're starting way back when.
I had serious deja-vu with this puzzle. Hmmm, maybe because it was the same as my "f-stop" puzzle published here.
Well, this wasn't Tuesday-easy (as Dudley found it), but maybe Thursday. I also went for TEN OF rather than TEN TO. Only unknown was ANN Radcliffe. Unexplainably blanked for a bit on Leonard COHEN, as I love his songs and especially "Hallelujah".
Marti - Thanks for the extra puzzle today. A lot of overlap with today's puzzle - two theme entries exactly duplicated and another partly. And no stray "F"! Especially liked the clue for 67A.
Thanks for all the funny links, Lemonade!
Hello, friends!
Jeffrey W. makes me think! However, once I had WHERE'S THE BEE, and LEGAL BRIE, I saw the theme and the same as Barry, I fit them all in place. Some of the shorter fill was not as easy. I missed BE IN as ANN Radcliffe was unknown, ARN seemed ok.
Loved TAU.
And I vaguely recalled Byron's poem so ERE WE jumped out.
Thank you Jeffrey and Lemonade. Today's efforts were rewarding.
Have a tremendous Friday, everyone!
Engineering Fact: An opinion without 3.14 is just an onion.
AnonT:
From last night, thank you for your response. None of those creations you mentioned are known to me. They look very rich. Here, BOSA doughnuts make my mouth water!
Apparently I am NEVER "In abeyance" when I pour my Scotch!
D N F ... I just couldn't fill in "ON _ _ _."
Did notice I groaned a few times as I got the answer/themes.
If you are going to "Drop-the-F" then the MFA/FLESH crossing shouldn't be in the grid.
Oh well, a "toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Thanks, JW, for another amusing theme and nice puzzle. Not a slog, but not quite a Thursday, either. Really enjoyed "WHERESTHEBEE" and "BETTERHAL". Knew Cohen's Hallelujah, as we played it recently in our bell choir. Very beautiful!
Thanks, Lemonade, for your pic of Clara Peller.... she was so funny!
Good Morning:
Fun Friday offering with some bite but highly doable. Caught the theme early which always helps with the solve. Tin is probably gnashing his teeth-two days in a row with his nemesis, _ _ _ showing up.
Thanks, JW, for a clever challenge and thanks, Lemony, for a super expo.
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
Jeff got me at the TA_/T_BER CROSS but I got everything else so that was OK. Sussing the dropped 'F' gimmick helped me get the grid spanner. All the theme fills were clever; it was worth doing the puzzle just to get those.
BREL - Love Jacque Brel's music. He died too young.
ELBE - 2nd largest North Sea feeder after the Rhine/Rhein/Rijn/etc. The Germans seem to have (folk) songs about almost anything. Here is one, a sea shanty, about the Elbe and 2 feeders to it, the Alster and the Bill. Link . (The verses are German while the chorus is Low German.)
The Esopus Creek in New York's Catskill Mountains attracts 15,000 TUBERS each summer.
Nicely challenging. Lotsa white space at the top. Finally got a foothold in the lower half but it still took a lot of brain-wracking to complete.
Had BETTERHAL and EVECUTIVECHE but still couldn't see the theme. Finally had the "Duh" moment after TURNOVERANEWLEA.
Tried ERA before AGE and MIS before MAL. Couldn't remember how to spell HAILE (tried HALIE ) but the perps fixed that.
Enjoyed it.
...eXecutiveche...
DNF for me. I got BETTER HAL, and that revealed the theme, but I didn't know enough of the perps to get any of the others. So I came here and cheated with the theme answers given at the top of the blog, and then could manage to finish finally, but not without Lemonade's help.
Thanks Lemonade!
IrishMiss:
Thank you for recommending the movie, I'll See You in My Dreams as no doubt I missed the review when it was published. It's a lovely film and Blythe Danner is a wonderful actress. I don't recall having seen her act before. I wasn't prepared for it to be sad, however.
Lucina @ 11:31 - I'm glad you liked the movie. The only role I associate Blythe Danner with is Nick Nolte's wife in The Prince of Tides. I have probably seen her in other movies, but, offhand, I can't think of any. She is far more likeable (is that a word?) than her daughter, IMO. I didn't know it was sad because Mick La Salle's review, while glowing, wasn't filled with specifics. In any case, it'll be in my Netflix queue. My current DVD is The Railway Man, which I believe is based on a true story. May watch it tonight.
How is your English pronunciation? I just ran across this collection of limericks, Sound Rhymes and This Sceptered Isle with riffs on Weems, Beechǝm, Kees, Gagan, Coon, Sinjin, Chumly, Sydenǝm, Sarǝm, & Hants. (ǝm is between um and em, or could be either.)
Marti: surprised Rich preferred this puzzle over your enjoyable one. Maybe because this one had an atomic BOHR, while what he found in yours was a BORE?
i thought this tough but fair. Had to work work work it to get it done. But finally finished, not a pretty solve like yesterday, lots of x outs.
See you tomorrow!
Lemonade- Get the "F" out of here... perfect!
Marti- I kept thinking that I had solved this puzzle before. Now I know why. I'm a bit surprised that this one was published in the same paper.
Not so perfect-
"Do you think Salassie will ever be emperor?"
"HAILE unlikely"
SCENE TWO- Taken care of
I solve microflora problems using an ALGAErithm
I don't speak the language but I can SEE THE HEBREW in WHERE'S THE BEE
Jerome: As I understand it, Marti's puzzle was only "published" on this site, not in the LA Times.
Enjoyed today's puzzle and got the theme early which helped. But got stuck on the east coast - not familiar with ABES.
K D Lang's performance of COHEN's Hallelujah at the Vancouver Olympics is my favourite.
We have London BROILs which are a ground meat/sausage wrapped with flank steak and the wrapped with bacon. Yummy!
I didn't realize they were Canadian.
Beautiful weather. Off to another outdoor concert.
The London BROIL is no more Canadian than it is American.
Enjoyed this outing. Also enjoyed yours, Marti. And I see what you mean.
Hi all!
I guess I can (mostly) get a Fri when ya'll think it's easy. Today ink OOZED from my pen on the 1st, say 30, passes. Seriously, I started this pzl before we left SPI and worked on it 1/2 way to CHI. Almost a win, but a DNF at aLBE. Thanks for tickling the little-gray cells Jeff.
W/os - era b/f AGE, TEN of, PaRa b/f PERI, and sawS b/f ABES. East-central is an inky blob.
ESPs - 17a, 12d, & 59d (ATOZ always gets me).
Fav - BOHR. The model, supplanted by quantum theory, is still useful for calculations.
I did not "get" the theme - kept thinking different E sounds, but HAL (my 1st theme get) didn't play nicely (sorry, Dave, it won't do that). Thanks Lem for giving me the F-ing theme.
Lucina: Yes, yes, it is very rich. The diet starts Monday.
I'm here in CHI w/ my brother until the flight leaves tomorrow.
Cheers, -T
"Puzzling Thoughts"
Late to the corner today as an early mtg prevented me from doing the puzzle over breakfast. I put in a couple answers this morning, and just finished a few minutes ago. Just two cheats: I forgot COHEN as the Hallelujah songwriter, and did a spell check of CINDY. Should've known that Dr Seuss would use a conventional spelling of her name! ;^)
The SW corner was last to fill as I had PEDO before PERI; I also used TEE before TAU, and was not enamored with the c/s for TUBER. But all in all this was a fun and very solvable Friday offering from Jeff Wex. Thanks to him and to Lemony for the entertainment!
Was thinking that JW could've combined 2d and 12d with something like "what those at 12d passed around ... !!
Irish Miss: try using likeable in one of our WWF games! LOL!
Are we due for a Sat Silkie??
Did you happen to look at the western sky this evening, around 8pm to about 9:30 pm? Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon were close together and made a beautiful sight. The moon will move higher in the sky and farther toward the east every night until it's not in the same vicinity. However, Venus and Jupiter will get closer together each night until they will be as close together as the apparent diameter of the moon, about the width of your finger or thumb held at arm's length away. They will be closest on the 30th and the 1st. I hope it's clear where you are!
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