Lemonade is taking a well-earned day off, and our regular
pinch-hitter is in a bit of a pinch, himself. This is my first try at
blogging, so let's see if I can keep 'er 'tween the ditches and get us
safely through to the other end of this bad boy. I believe this is
Joseph Groat's debut in the LAT. If so, “Well done, Joseph!” I hope we
see more of your work in the weeks to come.
Theme: “Tea For Me, Please.” –
T sound is added to each theme entry, changing the original Z-ending
sound into ST. All the key words go through spelling changes. There are
five theme answers, and since it's Friday,
there's no reveal. But there are two giant T's in the grid design.
17a.
Cheater's victory? : FAUX FIRST Faux Furs. I think I've mentioned my
former boss who visited a model home, and then waxed eloquent about the
“faux pas” [sic] wall finishes. I almost peed my pants.
23a. Haunted house nightmare? : GHOST ON A SPREE Goes on a spree.
38a. Chicken strips on browned bread? : FINGERS AND TOAST Fingers and Toes. Too bad that initial T had to remain.
46a.
Facetious tribute for Hollywood's Stone? : ROAST OF SHARON Rose of Sharon – from the Song of Solomon or, perhaps, from the Joan Baez album.
Link:
59a. Big dinner for the tech staff? : USER FEAST User Fees.
Let's see what other treats Joseph has laid out for us...
Across:
1. Fun : JEST Jest as I'll 'splain later, the J was my final fill.
5. Top : ACME
9.
Org. with an eighth note in its logo : ASCAP The American Society of
Composers, Authors and Publishers. They license the public performance
of music and make sure the folks who wrote it get paid.
14. Title matchmaker of 19th-century literature : EMMA Jane Austen, 1815.
15. Condemn : DOOM
16.
Daughter of Martin and Ida, in '70s TV : RHODA Morgenstern, played by
Valerie Harper. Valerie's got incurable cancer, and was told two years
ago that she had just weeks to live. She's 75 now, and still hangin' in
there. Good for her!
19. Half a '60s quartet : MAMAS
Michelle Phillips and “Mama” Cass Ellliot of the Mamas and Papas.
20. Custard component : EGG
21. "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" author : LOOS Anita Loos. It's said she never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
22. Short standards? : REGS Regulations.
28.
Nine of its cast members received Emmy nominations for 1988-89 : L.A.
LAW A creation of Steven Bochco, who also gave us “Hill Street Blues,”
“N.Y.P.D. Blue” and “Doogie Howser, M.D.”
30. Plural medical suffix : OSES As in psychoses. The singular is OSIS.
31. Sean O'Casey's home : ERIN Or will it be Eire or even Erie? Only the perps know for certain.
32. Pretend : FAKE IT
35. Coll. instructors, at times : T.A.'S Teaching Assistants.
41. Touch with a ball : TAG Baseball.
42. 1885 Savoy Theatre premiere, with "The" : MIKADO Gilbert and Sullivan.
43. Embezzle : SKIM I prefer 2%, myself.
44. 2002 A.L. Cy Young Award winner Barry : ZITO More baseball. Dunno.
45. Reflection : GLINT
52. __ Minor : URSA The “Little Bear” or “Little Dipper”
53. Practice with poses : YOGA Not baseball. I do know; that'd be YOGI.
54. PX patrons : GI'S
57. Popcorn, e.g. : MAIZE
61. Pucci contemporary : BLASS Fashion designers Emilio Pucci and Bill Blass.
62. Not happy at all : SORE
63.
Kunis of "Black Swan" : MILA Ukranian actress. Esquire Magazine
declared her to be the “sexiest woman alive” in 2013. She hangs with
Ashton Kutcher.
64. "Piece of cake!" : A SNAP
65. It adjoins the altar : APSE
66. Eclipse, to some : OMEN
Down:
1.
Baja boss : JEFE I had originally entered HEFE, because that's the way
it's pronounced. But HEST just wasn't making it any “Fun.”
2. Kindle download : E-MAG Started as BOOK – Wite-Out, please.
3. Coast Guard concern : SMUGGLING
4. Stress : TAX
5. Parting word : ADIOS Or Adieu? Perps.
6.
Barbizon school artist : COROT French. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot –
not exactly a household name. The National Gallery in D.C. does own
almost 100 of his paintings, mostly landscapes.
7. Meno __: not as fast, in music : MOSSO I tried MOLTO first, but that's a breakfast cereal.
8. ER staff member : EMT
9. Sea section : ARM Bay wasn't working.
10. Note changers : SHARPS Music, not currency.
11. Promising type : COMER She's a real comer.
12. Saw : ADAGE
13. Not at all current : PASSE (I'd put an acute accent mark on that E if I knew how.)
18. Tidal movement : FLOW Throw in Ebb, Neap and Spring, and those are all the tidal words I know.
24.
Loiter : HANG I learned the word “Loiter” at about age 5 at the Post
Office. My uncle, the postmaster, told me to quit loitering and get out
of there.
25. Eternally : NO END
26. Words of accord : AS I DO Can be hard to parse.
27. Paving stone : SETT We had this just a few weeks back.
28. Split : LEFT When bowling, at least two pins must be LEFT to form a “Split.” Right, Boomer?
29. Song often heard in a foreign language : ARIA Not in my house.
32. Ruffle relative? : FRITO A ridgeless snack alternative.
33. Want from : ASK OF
34.
Kipling python : KAA From “The Jungle Book.”
35. About to shoot : TAKING AIM
36. "It's __ to tell ..." : A SIN Anybody try “Hard?”
37. List of charges: Abbr. : STMT Statement.
39. Send out : EMIT
40. City where sidewalks are decorated with Ibsen quotes : OSLO – Norwegian playwright.
44. "Moulin Rouge" (1952) co-star, familiarly : ZSA ZSA The most flamboyant of the three Gabor sisters.
45. Five-time US Open champ : GRAF Tennis, not baseball.
46.
Latin dance : RUMBA Samba, Salsa, Tango, Mambo, ad nauseum. I think
there's a law that the Latin dance names must be 5-letters long.
47. Challenging tests : ORALS I had one of those exams yesterday. “Open wide, please.”
48. Turk, most likely : ASIAN [Meh].
49. Online bulletin board mgr. : SYSOP System Operator.
50. Ones working on beds : HOERS My SIL remarked that when it came to weeds, she was a better puller than a hoer. Nuff sedd.
51. Go along : AGREE
55. Vacation destination : ISLE
56. Baseball Hall of Famer Musial : STAN More baseball, but I actually knew that one.
58. Foresight : ESP
59. Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show network : USA Three-letter soup. Could've been most anything.
60.
Confessional genre : EMO I still don't know exactly what that is, but
if it's a 3-letter genre and RAP or POP won't fit, it must be EMO.
Time to “Split.” Desper-otto, over and out.
44 comments:
Made it thru today, after many passes and red letters. I had the SE and most of the NW, but a blank diagonal went between the other corners. Turned on the red, expecting the worst, but only 2 letters turned, both ones of the several I was doubtful of: MOSSi (a WAG anyway -- like mosey) and AS If which re-parsed to A SIN!
A fellow who's careful about where he GOES,
Who's always alert, and stays on his TOES,
Buys his girl FURS,
Pays FEES that are hers,
And at last he romances with one single ROSE!
A milquetoast there was, who was afraid of a GHOST,
Who thought if he met one his chances were TOAST.
He fought his FIRST beast
At a Halloween FEAST:
He was gored by the GHOST of the boar who was ROAST!
A couple limericks not on the theme entries.
Gilbert and Sullivan wrote the MIKADO,
To which the audience exclaimed loudly, "Bravo!"
Together, they were magic.
Alas, it was tragic
When their harmony became a tarnished Eldorado.
It's hard working inside, and not out of doors.
It's hard work to do all the needful chores.
What pleasures instead
To get into beds,
And there work their tails off, like good little HOERS!
(50d, "Ones working on beds" has got to be one of the absolutely best clues ever!)
Morning, all!
This one was beyond me. ZITO? COROT? BLASS? MAIZE (as clued)?
I got the theme at USER FEAST and ROAST OF SHARON< but that was all I could get of the theme.
Eventually turned on the red letter help and still had to run through the alphabet at spots.
I'll let others talk about how it was a fun puzzle despite all the unknowns and poor cluing. I'm gonna pull a semi Thumper and stop talking now...
D-O thank you for the fine write up.
Sound puzzles are always tricky but this one seemed to all fit together. Plenty of work to here, as clued RHODA LOOS and BLASS were hard, COROT MOSSO and SYSOP were also elusive.
The baseball clues were easy for me, though if I had been the constructor I would have worked in his namesake DICK
Welcome Joseph
Good Morning, Desper-Otto. Great job!
Well, this puzzle certainly ended the easy streak of this week's puzzles for me. Ouch!! It is never a good sign when I can't get 1-Across on the first pass.
I learned that Popcorn is not a Snack, but MAIZE. I learned that Top is not A-One, but ACME. I also wanted Asia Minor instead of URSA Minor and Adieu in lieu of ADIOS. And that was about all I could fill in, although incorrectly, on the first pass!
QOD: I would like Americans to make things with their hand. Thomas Jefferson and I feel that makes for a much stronger nation. ~ Nick Offerman (b. June 26, 1970)
This was a puzzle above my pay grade. The NW killed me. I had EMAG and EGG, but wanted A ONE for ACME, LPN for EMT (EMTs usually are in the ambulances) , DAMN for DOOM (which I was), REND for LEFT, NUGGETS for FINGERS, and there was no way in hell I would have filled COROT or MOSSO.
After I solved ROAST OF SHARON and had 'nuggets' AND TOAST, I was thinking there would be a rhyme and guessed GHOST, as I already had filled SPREE in the NE. Wrong theme and direction on my part!!! I never figured out the theme.
UNCLE.
Great summary D-O. Lemme introduce 44a/Barry ZITO to you.
His father, Joe Zito, composed and arranged music for Nat King Cole in the early 1960s (ca.1961–64) and arranged for the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra. Zito's mother Roberta was a musician who sang in a choral group known as The Merry Young Souls and with Nat King Cole and his band. Zito is also a musician. He plays guitar, and he co-wrote the song "Butterflies" that was used in the Eddie Murphy film 'A Thousand Words'. Zito's uncle is television actor Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby Ewing in 'Dallas'. Barry married former Miss Missouri, Amber Seyer in 2011 and had a son who turns 1 year old in July.
Zito is known for his idiosyncrasies and his offbeat personality. Early in his career, Zito dyed his hair blue. He earned the nicknames "Planet Zito" and "Captain Quirk" when with Oakland. He surfs and practices YOGA. He has done yoga poses in the outfield. Zito founded the charity Strikeouts For Troops. The charity provides comforts of home and works to lift the spirits and morale of injured US troops and offers support to military families. In 2003, Zito portrayed a United States Navy petty officer in an episode of JAG on CBS. Zito's character, a pitcher, faced assault charges after hitting a Marine with a ball during the annual Navy-Marine all-star baseball game.
Quite the renaissance man, huh?
Oh and yeah, his curveball? His curveball was voted the best in the Major Leagues in a player poll conducted by Sports Illustrated in 2005. Alex Rodriguez once stated that he had never seen anything like Zito's curveball, commenting: "It's such a high one, and it drops three to four feet. You might as well not even look for it because you're not going to hit it."
How he does it.
Well, well, well . . . .
Thanks for the challenge, Joseph, but everywhere I went I was wrong. Frill for FRITO, Asia for URSA, Samba for RUMBA and on and on and on. A big time DNF because it was all wrong.
Desper-Otto, your rookie write up was teriffic! Great links and explanations. I did not see the T's in the grid. I absolutely loved Malt-O-Meal!
Rest your brains after that workout, and have a great day.
Finished, but a little slower than usual. Didn't get the theme for some reason. Several unknowns, such as MOSSO, BLASS, "Moulin Rouge" (but the Z gave away the answer). Remarkably, guessed COROT on the first pass and it held up.
I agree with Big Easy that an EMT is not on the ER staff; they typically work for the ambulance company or fire department. (I've also known several volunteer EMTs, for which effort I have tremendous admiration.)
Excellent job, D-Otto! Thanks!
Well, I'm glad I wasn't the only one defeated by this maze of entertainment trivia. Just about every clue made absolutely no sense to me, and the theme of added letters simply didn't have a hope in that atmosphere. Clues like 60A confessional genre turned me off because I thought what do I know about the Roman Catholic church? Nuff said.
I do hope things can settle down now for Jazz, and that his aunt survives the loss of her twin sister. How hard that must be for her at that age!
I'm also wishing a steady improvement for Gary in hospital. That has to be very tedious and patience wearing for you.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Good Morning:
This was a real bear but I finished w/o help but with some wags and luck and spending an inordinate amount of time for a Friday. Every time I see Emo it reminds me of an episode of TBBT in which Leonard binges on Emo music after a breakup with Penny. (Sheldon dealt with a work-related setback by acquiring a dozen (or so) cats.)
Thanks, Joseph, for a Friday brain-twister and thanks, DO, for an auspicious debut: ya did good! I don't know why but I guessed that you were the blogger right from the beginning of your commentary.
Have a great day
Desper otto: Excellent Job "Pinch-Hitting" (one of my favorite things to do!) for Lemon.
D N F ... was never on the Constructor's Wave-Length, though I did get the UBER-FEAST.
Had ASIA Minor for the longest time until that TURK became an ASIAN.
No booze in the grid (Tears!) ... but at least it had one of my "Hurricane Supplies" ... a small bag of FRITO(s).
Husker: Glad to see your "Musings" again. Get Well Soon!
(geez, if you want a person to get/stay sick ... Keep Them in a Hospital!)
Cheers!
Excellent blogging Otto!
This one left me bruised and bloody by the side of the road.
Got several footholds, even sussed the theme, but just couldn't do it.
Can't say it was much fun. But it didn't make me wince.
Cool regards!
JzB
WIM said @ 9:21!
Totally defeated me. Not even close to solving this one. Embarrassingly bad effort on my part. Looking forward to Monday. Nice write-up, d.o.
Is this puzzle over yet?
Yes, it was a Friday bear.... and a DNF due to LOOS and MOSSO. Did figure out the theme before finishing, which made it a lot easier. Congrats on the debut, Joseph!
D-Otto - thanks for your debut, as well! Very nicely done. Couldn't even tell it was your first time.
I enjoyed the clever theme -especially adding a letter but the beginning of the word changed when the T was added (Goes - GHOST, Furs- First, Toes - TOAST, etc). Thought the artist was Coret instead of COROT and loes looked as good as LOOS, so a one letter DNF today.
Thanks D-Otto for a fun fill-in, and Joseph for a creative puzzle!
Continued prayers for H-G!
Heading out for a mystery weekend (my husband planned it) to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary - looks like the rain may hold off!
CED - Thanks for the laugh. I can always depend on Mr. Meow!
Inane Hiker - Happy Anniversary! Hope your mystery weekend is full of surprises and lots of fun!
Best wishes to Gary and Joann. (And Lily, too!)
Difficult Friday that required help and took too long. But the reward was a fantastic bio of the Zitos! Thank you! This is why I love crosswords and this blog. It's my personal learning center, where sometimes I feel like I'm in grad school or I failed 3rd grade. Either way I enjoy it!
Ernie Holmes, thanks for the extensive background on Barry Zito [I just had to scroll up to refresh my memory as to his name!] I was going to say I'd probably forget before lunch time...but it didn't make it that far. My brain suffers severe sports leakage. I might remember if he were clued as Patrick Duffy's nephew.
Where do I start? One comment.. UGH!
The rest of the week was doable, but today was impossible to complete.
I also had ASIA instead of URSA, and HARD instead of ASIN. Wanted WAVE, not FLOW.
Couldn't get the reveal at all. Had partial words in the long fills, but no clue.
The only gimmes for me were LALAW, RHODA, and MILA. Usually TV and entertainment trivia is my forte, as well as anything food related. Anything else is a crapshoot. But I do give it my best try.
OTTO..You blog like a pro. Good job!
Well. I couldn't FAKE IT. This puzzle wasn't A SNAP, and is but an OMEN of tomorrow's hair pulling attempt at deciphering Saturday level clues.
For now, I'll just wish everyone a wonderful weekend. Shalom....
I forgot to add...
For Otto and others who questtion what the EMO/CONFESSIONAL connection is....EMO is a genre of punk rock in which the vocalist sings songs that have lyrics and themes quite personal to him/her. EMO is short for "EMOTIONAL", ergo the feeling are CONFESSIONAL.
Sorry for the typos. Questions...feelings. my bad..
Anybody want legs for Short standards?
If I was the only one that biffed on LO__, COR_T, MOS_O it would surprise me. I had a great time after the ROAST OF SHARON reveal.
Musings
-Sorry for not being on the bench C.C. I’m on the injured reserve!
-One of my doctors is a man named Darcy Shaw. His sister picked out his feminine first name for a Jane Austen character named Mr. Darcy. He said he had heard of of this song (3:39)
-Lesser known PAPA Denny Doherty’s lovely voice was the backbone of the group
-FAKE IT? The less said the better ladies
-Organized crime lived off the Vegas SKIM for years
-COMET coming? No sweat!
-Frequent advice to children, “Do as I say, not AS I DO!”
-What do we NOT know about our fav Scandanavian City clue/fill
-Marriage AGREEment
Miss Beckly - I was searching for a four letter word with a musical meaning as I thought the clue pertained to Bobby Short, the singer/pianist. It's funny how we interpret the clues so differently at times. That's part of the fun in solving, I think.
Hi all!
I thought I overslept a day - my grid looks like my typical Sat sea o' white. Nope, it's a Friday and apparently I'm in good company with my TDNF. Thanks anyway Mr. Groat and congrats on a debut. D-O: knocking this out and doing a substitute 1st crack writeup?; ACME marks for you. Good job.
WEES - NW EMAG/EGG & nothing else. NC - ACME / EMT - nada, NE got it and the rest of the east. And, not much else. I confess, my 60d still reads BIO. (EMO? Really, it's EMOtional whiney music, but confessional? er, OK [follow-up: I drafted this before coneyro made the point clear])
Fav - of course, SYSOP. Our's (Argyle) does a great job mopping up around here.
P.S. Argyle - From last night: I didn't realize IM's post was the answer. I thought it was a HAR-HAR to HG's comparison re: tubes. Penny has dropped. Thanks.
Did I tell ya'll about MIL trying to kill a snake (not ASP today) with a HOE? She kept hitting the DOOM'd thing (not EEL either) but the HOE was dull. MIL went on and on complaining about the dull HOE. Finally, DW, without cracking a smile... "Yes, Mom, no one likes a dull ho."
Cheers, -T
miss Beckley - nope. but I did have REqS 1st (Requirements / standards for a project). C, -T
Horrible. After looking up two answers and still not making any headway I tossed it aside with a few white squares left.
Late to the dance due to a brutal work schedule today, but that's now been completed. The puzzle was brutal too. Beat me badly about the head, shoulders, ankles and kneecaps. I had about 70% filled when the towel was tossed and I didn't even bother to google. Came here and outright cheated. But I did grasp the theme before that capitulation and enjoyed the puzzle despite it's besting me.
Very sneaky not identifying yourself early on, Tom. I suspected it might be you early, and that grew as I read the write up. A vey fine job of subbing. You are a natural!
And it's also nice to see you back, Gary. I hope you continue to improve and can walk off the need for additional surgery.
Ron, I'm sorry to hear about your loss. My deepest condolences.
Well, now that my paid work is complete for the day, I have a couple acres that need mowing before nightfall. Later.
No joy today for me. Had ADIEU not ADIOS, could not figure COROT, had MOLTO not MOSSO.
This puzzle kicked my butt. Ouch. Toughest Friday in a while for me.
Can't wait for tomorrow.
Hello, friends!
WEES!! I see all that can be said, has been said. For me, this was my worst nightmare in a puzzle, obscure references, unknown names, and generalities. Since I knew JEFE and JEST followed I erroneously thought it would be A SNAP. Wrong! So wrong.
I did manage the SE corner fairly quickly because of MILA, OMEN and GIS then TAKING AIM. It came to a standstill having ASIA Minor and some other missteps. Finally, with SHARON in place the theme kind of emerged, some errors were corrected and I limped toward the finish but not before I researched ZITO and LOOS about whom I had no idea. Couldn't recall exactly how to spell ZSAZSA so checked on that.
After bouncing around a bit, pausing to do my YOGA practice (yes, with poses) and listening to the President's eulogy for Rev. Pinckney, I finished, bruised and beaten.
Thank you for the challenge, Mr. Groat and Tom, too. I recognized your style about half way down. Well done!
I hope your Friday has been fantastic, everyone!
I know that some people are not into sports, but, Barry Zito is a 2x World Series Champion, 3x All-Star, Cy Young Award winner (best pitcher in the American League) and a 1st round draft choice.
And, of course, some people are not into art, but this is what Degas said of Corot-
"There is only one master... we are nothing compared to him"
His paintings are in museums throughout the world.
Zito and Corot are totally legit entries for a Friday puzzle. Which, in my opinion, is a damn good one. Thanks for a fine time, Joseph.
Ouch! Uncle! *limping away*
Yay! You're getting back to form, GH. Good for us and super or you.
Greetings!
WBS.
Congrats d-o.
Cheers!
Hello Puzzlers -
So glad to see others were defeated by today's puzz. DNF for me. That SW was beyond my grasp.
Jerome:
Learning moments like the ones in today's puzzle are why the puzzles and this Blog are so precious to me. Thank you and Ernie Holmes for educating me on Barry Zito as well as COROT. I can't believe I don't recall anything about him. But of course, History of Art was for me, many decades ago.
Remember yesterday's confusion? Meta-something rock-n-roll?
Well today it is exposed. ZITO METAllica
A tough one, especially the lower quarter, but doable. Plenty of erasures this time!
Probably too late for anyone to see (only 7:40pm here), but here's a bit of Italian musical term translation to English.
meno = less
mosso = motion
molto = very
meno mosso = slower (less motion)
molto allegro = very fast
molto vivo = very lively
Spellcheck tried to steal all the terminal Os.
Mike the blog often is read or days so your helpful musical information will be read
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