Words: 70 (missing K,Q,X,Z)
Blocks: 29
It looked pretty grim for me in the SE today, but it eventually came together. I concede that I cheated, but it was never "43a." I
used my dictionary for one clue, and then Googled the seventh largest
state just to get me some traction in that corner. 11-letter triples in
the across, and 9-letter triples in the down, with two 10-letter
climbers framing the center;
16a. Graphic with three-digit numbers : AREA CODE MAP - you can zoom in
54a. Spotted cat : EGYPTIAN MAU - had to give up on "COCO" for 53d.
27. Picture frame feature : MITER JOINT
onDErd~!
ACROSS:
1. Cowboys, on scoreboards : DAL - always good to start out right; Dallas of the NFL - granted, it was only 3 letters....
4. Some field hands : DAY LABORERS
15. N.Y. campus that's home to the Engineers : RPI - a shout-out to Spitzboov and myself, tho my time there was not worth the cost
17. Msg. after an escape, perhaps : APB - All Points Bulletin; I tried S.O.S. - hey, if I got out, I'd want someone to come get me
18. 40-member California group : STATE SENATE - healthy WAG on my part
19. Overweight : FLESHY
21. Surprise fictional visitors : ETs
22. Mother of Sam and Charlie Woods : ELIN - Tiger's Ex
23. A bit sour : TARTY - meh
24. Law order : STAY - tried WRIT
25. Suffix with poly- : GLOT - Polyglot; 1. - a book containing versions of the same text in several languages /2. - composed of numerous linguistic groups (my dictionary is still open)
4. Some field hands : DAY LABORERS
15. N.Y. campus that's home to the Engineers : RPI - a shout-out to Spitzboov and myself, tho my time there was not worth the cost
17. Msg. after an escape, perhaps : APB - All Points Bulletin; I tried S.O.S. - hey, if I got out, I'd want someone to come get me
18. 40-member California group : STATE SENATE - healthy WAG on my part
19. Overweight : FLESHY
21. Surprise fictional visitors : ETs
22. Mother of Sam and Charlie Woods : ELIN - Tiger's Ex
23. A bit sour : TARTY - meh
24. Law order : STAY - tried WRIT
25. Suffix with poly- : GLOT - Polyglot; 1. - a book containing versions of the same text in several languages /2. - composed of numerous linguistic groups (my dictionary is still open)
26. Adorable : CUTE
27. Hearty pastry : MEAT PIE
29. Patient of Dr. Liz : ODIE - from Garfield, the comic strip
30. Ready to roll : IN GEAR
31. Org. with a Retirement Estimator web page : SSA - dah~! Not IRS
34. Eye : PEER AT - would this be considered an ansecho~? 46d. Nobility : PEERS
36. Put in order : NEATEN
38. Furlong's 220: Abbr. : YDs - a healthy guess here, too
39. Hikes : LEGS IT - ah, not RAISES
43. Time to give up : LENT
44. Acts by those who won't give up : HEROICS
45. Slalom opening : GATE
46. Child: Pref. : PEDO - so what's a pedometer~?
49. 7, often : JULY - Nailed it
50. Trap : HEM IN - did NOT nail it
51. Switch attachment? : EROO - Switheroo - this is one of "those" clues/answers that keeps me going sometimes
52. World Cup chant : OLÉ
53. Connecticut town in which some "Stepford Wives" scenes were filmed : DARIEN - I am familiar with this town only because 99.1 WPLR has traffic reports for CT, but we hear them on Long Island
57. Bio subject : RNA
58. 1950 Muddy Waters song : ROLLIN' STONE
59. Calendar abbr. : OCT - ugh - when the corner's blank, that leaves 12 choices
60. Brand of protective clothing : STEALTHWEAR - their website
61. Seventh-largest st. : NEVada - I did not know that IOWA is bigger than NY~!!! Wiki list
DOWN:
1. Developmental version : DRAFT COPY
2. Praised : APPLAUDED
3. What a screenwriter may take with a novel : LIBERTIES - Off the top of my head, I know that things worked out better for John Hammond in the script of Jurassic Park than they did in the book
4. Stylish : DASHY - Y one
5. Pretentious : ARTY - Y two
6. Bit of support : YEA - Y oh Y
7. Reason for a baseball manager's challenge : LATE TAG - Remember this commercial~?
"He missed the tag~!!"
8. Overlay material : ACETATE - FORMICA® fit, too10. Dedicated work : ODE
11. Fail to deliver : RENEGE
12. Online shopping mecca : eMALL - ah, not one specific website
13. Pi, but not rho : RATIO
14. Drained : SPENT
20. Direct : STEER
24. 1/100 of a Cambodian riel : SEN - here's where I busted out the dictionary - it's got a cool "MONEY" table from all over the world
28. Hot condition : IRE
31. One sitting on a board : STEAM IRON - extremely clever
32. Consciousness : SENTIENCE
33. Airer of classic shows : ANTENNA TV - never heard of it, but some perps and an educated WAG....
35. Bass, for one : ALE - dah~! The beer, not the instrument
37. "Ragged Dick" author : ALGER - Perps - the Wiki
40. Hodgepodge : GOULASH - took a moment to get the spelling correct
41. Wreck initiator? : SILENT W - har-har~! W-R-E-C-K; more spelling
42. Like some stares : ICY - ah, not SLY
44. Fuss : HOOPLA
47. Grain disease : ERGOT - spelled it A-rgot first
48. Watson's creator : DOYLE - another one of "those" clues
50. "Crossworlds" actor Rutger __ : HAUER - another one of "those"; can't think of too many Rutgers....
53. Tabu creator : DANA - did not know what to put in after COCO went bad; the Wiki
55. Word after "open," in store signs : 'TIL
56. Animated barkeep : MOE - The Simpsons
Splynter - (( I can't talk right now - I'm in Delaware ))
Note from C.C.:
 |
| Joann, Granddaughter Elise & Gary |
47 comments:
Morning, all!
Boy, I love me a good Saturday Silkie! Sadly, this one wasn't particularly good ("What's that, Thumper? I'm sorry, I can't quite hear you...")
I got through most of this one despite some serious bumps along the way and having to make a total WAG at ANTENNA TV. Went with I AM AMERICA [And You Are Too] instead of BOSSY PANTS< so that slowed me down significantly. But more than the difficult or obscure stuff was the really crappy stuff. PEERS and PEER AT in the same grid? TARTY and ARTY and DASHY all together? I absolute refused to enter the Y crossing TARTY and DASHY and decided to just take my DNF as a man. Not that it would have mattered, of course, since I couldn't get the crossing of DANA and DARIEN to save my life and therefore would have had a DNF even without my pointless protest. But, still... TARTY? DASHY? More than a *meh* for me, those rate a solid *ugh*.
Ah well, as I said, I'm typically a huge fan of Saturday Silkies. I know I'm overly nit-picky sometimes and often just flat out wrong about my criticisms, but I really just didn't care for this one.
No, no, no. A big DNF for me. I blame it on waking up too early and my brain clearly hadn't caught up, lol. He had good clues, but I was changing my answers over and over. I was happy to get the whole NE section but came up with little in the bottom half. Silkies are almost always a challenge for me and today he got me again. Until next time Mr. Barry Silk!
Good morning!
Hoo boy, this one went into overtime. Does that make it a LATE TAG? I think I prevailed only because several of my early WAGs turned out to be right. That made the odds much better for the nearby WAGs. In all, I've got 21 squares with Wite-Out on 'em. That's a near record.
Splynter, hand up for WRIT. But I've gotta disagree with your math once again. For that "Calendar abbr." there are actually 19 possibilities -- 12 months plus 7 days of the week. And just what are you doing in DE, anyway?
I thought for certain that Mr. Silk was toying with us, and that Connecticut town would turn out to be NATICK. OK, I just looked it up, and I now know that Natick is in MA rather than CT. I really get my geography confused with those two states, plus RI as well.
ANTENNA TV was an unknown. Thought it was a reference to over-the-air reception. I just replaced the signal amp on my TV antenna this past week as part of my annual hurricane preparedness. During severe weather satellite TV drops out...just when you want to know what's going on. That's when having an old style TV antenna begins to matter.
Good Morning!
Whew! Yes, D-Otto, it's a LATE TAG! Everything I wanted didn't work: snare for trap, bait for switch, peeper for eye and so on. Thanks Barry because in the end even a DNF is fun. I can't have my way all the time. My favorite was STEAM IRON; I couldn't get past a corporate board.
Thanks Splynter for the hard work here. On the PEDO question. As I recall the original work of a PEDiatrician was to straighten "club foot" and other foot and leg disorders (in the Middle Ages?). It was appropriate for children because their bones were still pliable. My source on this is embedded somewhere in the far corners of my brain without a footnote.
Enjoy the rest of the day everyone.
Well! I got this with lots of time and some help.I never heard of EGYPTIAN MAU or HAUER.
I'm sorry to say that SILENT W did me in until the very end. What could end in TW? COTY before DANA. My favorite clue was STEAM IRON.
I think PEERS and PEERS AT should be allowed because they have different roots. I am not up on all the crossword protocols, but to ban this seems silly to me. Yesterday I could see that having an F in MFA was not so cool, because we were dropping F's.
NYC and its suburbs are certainly a POLYGLOT area. I loved having ESL students in my classes.
We had the best ever MEAT PIES in Scotland. We took them along when we went hiking. (LEGS IT)
Have you ever heard a stylish person referred to as DASHY? One dictionary terms DASHY nonstandard, meaning "intended to draw attention; showy" IMO showy is not stylish.
From English Word Informaton:
"Remember that the Greek ped- means "child" while the Latin ped- means "foot". Don't confuse this Greek element with another Greek pedo- which means "ground, soil, earth".
Beaten. Badly beaten. Stuck with it for nearly an hour, and had ~80%, but a lot of white in the SW. 53d was a major roadblock as I first had Dior. When I finally gave up and googled the Muddy Waters song, that kicked out Dior, but I then tried DKNY. After mucho erasures I finally did get it all with just the one google, but the final A in dAna was a complete wag since I had no clue on the cat (other than country of origin). A little underhanded today, IMO. But I guess some days the bear gets you.
It just dawned on me that DASHING (marked by smartness especially in dress and manners) would be a better match for stylish than DASHY.
I had better get off the computer and get to my cleaning. Any excuse to procrastinate!
Finished, but in slow motion. That was a workout! I've only been logging my times for about 3 months now, but this was well beyond my longest for a Saturday.
Too many unknowns such as ANTENNA TV, BOSSY PANTS, NEV (who knows the seventh in any "best" or "biggest" list?), EGYPTIAN MAU, ROLLIN' STONE, STEALTHWEAR, DANA, and probably more. HEM IN took a while to recognize even after it was complete. Not happy with TARTY or DASHY, which both seem unnatural. Tried polyGAMY before polyGLOT. Best "D'oh" moment was SILENT W. Also STEAM IRON; like Madame Defarge, I was trapped in thinking about a corporate board, or board of selectmen.
Thanks Mr. Silk for the challenge, and Splynter for the write-up. Love the Uecker commercial. I saw the other day that he was hit by a ball, glad he's OK.
Well, I got the "Tada", but only because I turned on red letter help after an hour. The first 15 minutes or so went well, then I hit a brick wall. I'm sure one of my sticking points was 42 down. I didn't think we were supposed to fill in anything. I mean, everyone has heard of "blank" stares. Of all things, ANTENNATV was a gimmie. DW and I watch a lot of it, especially Barney Miller, on DVR.
No nits for me today. Thank you, Mr. Silk, and thank you, Splynter for a fun expo. Are you at Firefly? If so, I'm only 35 miles north.
I just saw the note about Gary.
Sorry to hear about your relapse, Gary. I hope you are feeling better soon and can return home!
Hello Puzzlers -
Today's Saturday Silkie was humming along, until I hit that SE corner. Put in SSA with confidence, and Sentience seemed like such a high quality answer right off, but it wouldn't harmonize with the board of Selectmen. Never heard of Antenna TV , so like D Otto I resisted it until there was no choice. Tried Cote and Coty for the Tabu thing - bzzzzt! My salvation came once I noticed that Neaten would fit, because that kicked out the entire select board, and replaced it with a less sentient appliance.
Morning Splynter, thanks for reminding us how attractive Tina Fey can be.
Husker - sending get-well-soon energy on the subspace frequency!
"Puzzling Thoughts":
Hello, my name is MOE and I'm a crossword puzzle cheater - especially when it's by Silk or some other sadistic constructor of word games! ;^)
Got DAL, RPI, OLE, EROO, SSA, CUTE and MOE. And then the cheating began. Some helped; some didn't. EGYPTIAN MAU? Really? ANTENNA TV? Really?
I thought 16a had to do with AREA CODES but I couldn't equate graphic with map
I thought 8d might be VENEER again; I was "meh" with MEAT PIE as a hearty pastry, and also with the DASHY/TARTY adjectives
It all fit together, finally, as the cheats and perps let me finish. STEAM IRON for "one sitting on a board" was quite clever; I was trying to think of a former CEO ...
Another "almost SO" to Tin as the word ICY appeared. ICE in some shape or form showed 3 times this week and MOE twice. Tin, maybe we need to get together and have a drink one of these days ...
Enjoy the weekend, all; out until Monday
Lots of unknowns today and WEES about all the Ys! That didn't seem very Silkiesh (is that a word?). Slowly made it through all but the SW. Thanks Splynter for your work explaining the twists and turns.
Prayers for HG to get healthy again!
Oh, and a couple more things:
HG - prayers are on the way - hope you'll be better soon; miss the musings
Splynter - enjoyed the write up as usual
Yesterday was MOE Howard's (of The Three Stooges) birthday. He was the last of the original Stooges to pass (1974 at age of 77). And since he's my "alter ego" in manner of speaking, here's a belated birthday greeting and a link to the 3 Stooges Short that made me a fan of theirs. 17 minutes in length. Enjoy!
Good Morning:
First of all, prayers, thoughts, and best wishes to Gary. I hope the hospital stay is brief and that you'll be back home soon, curled up with a purring Lily! (I was afraid something was amiss as there were no posts the last few days. CC, thanks for keeping us informed.)
Now to the puzzle. I am going to be completely honest as I am a big fan of Mr. Silk and have always admired and respected his tough but fair cluing and answers, and the lack of "meh" reactions. I was nowhere near on his wave length today and, for probably the first time ever, did not enjoy the solve. I did finish w/o help, but it took me 1:17 to do so; way too much time and frustration. As others have pointed out, dashy, arty, fleshy, and tarty hit sour notes, even if they are acceptable. Never heard of Stealth Gear or Antenna TV, but, eventually the perps saved the day. RPI was a gimme as I live a stone's throw from the campus.
I hope the next Silkie is more to my liking but thanks for today's offering despite the criticism and thanks, Splynter, for your usual nifty expo.
Have a great day.
Well, I cheated my way to a fill, burning up the 'net to Google. So would have to take a DNC. Even after I cheat-filled, I guess I'm just confused, but the "MEATPIE" that I'm familiar with has a pie crust and meat filling. Never heard of a pasta one.
I'm missing Owen's limericks; I hope he's O.K.
Nice write-up, Splynter!! Thanx.
unclefred @ 10:25
Hope you're OK with me subbing for Owen today. This is a limerick I recently submitted for a "contest", where the "theme" is creating a limerick dealing with spam (not the canned meat):
Farm-to-table supplier named Sam,
Shows his goods through a video cam.
But his Mac had a glitch,
Didn't email his flitch;
Instead, sent out some Green Eggs as spam!
BTW, flitch refers to a salted side of pork or bacon
Like the rest, didn't care for DASHY/TARTY. Knew Egyptian Mau after the M and U were in. SE was the slowest, and ended to be a DNF for the DARIEN (I put in an A, not E). DH got Antenna TV and Bossy Pants. Didn't particularly feel like a normal Silkie, but appreciated the workout.
Splynter, thanks for the Bob Uecker/Miller Lite commercial - loved seeing it again!
I don't need to reiterate that Saturday puzzles are my least favorite, Silkie or not. So instead, I'll say something much more important. Best wishes Gary! I hope to (see) you again soon with your always enjoyable musings.
~ Fond regards, Bill G.
Welp, I wanted to like this puzzle but I couldn't. Too many times after finally figuring out an answer my response was either "Huh?" or "Yeah, sure, okay, whatever." Like having just seen a bad movie, I came out of this one simply not caring.
Gary, I hope you will be all right. Rooting for you!
JB in VA
Husker Gary, get well soon.
Hello, friends!
Yowza! Mr. Silk threw in some nub into his Silkie. WEES. However, the entire top half was quite doable and I APPLAUD him for that. Even the SW and SE corners filled in nicely. Once I had SENTIENCE they fell like dominoes, RNA, OCT, NEV. I thought LENT was cute but IRON even more so.
Like some of you I had CODY, then DKNY but finally researched it and found MAU. Really? Had a good laugh at SILENTW and JULY.
Prayers for Gary. Get well very soon.
I hope your Saturday is going better than well, everyone!
Good afternoon everyone.
Nice to see the 'Tute get a shoutout as Splynter said. Cal STATE SENATE - not so much. Tough, pushing through it today, but there were some aha! spots bringing satisfaction: AREA CODE MAP, STEAM IRON, and maybe, DAY LABORERS. Liked MITER JOINT, too, and the RATIO clue.
New learnings: SENTIENCE and EGYPTIAN MAU.
Sorry for Gary's setback. Bummer. Wishing him a good recovery going forward.
Damn it Gary, you're supposed to be packing for some R & R in Kauai, not hoofing it back to the hospital. Hope you get well soon!
Much tougher than most Saturday puzzles... but doable. I can assure you that Mr. Silk does not want to write puzzles that people can't solve, nor does Rich would want to publish them. If you couldn't solve it that's hardly unusual. Everyone has that experience now and then, but the fault certainly falls in our own laps not the constructor. I loved Madame Defarge's attitude about this puzzle, by the way... no whining, crying, and implying that certain words don't exist. Obviously she has more important things to fret over than a puzzle.
Yellowrocks- you're absolutely right about PEER and PEERS AT. However, DADO instead of PEDO at 46- across would have worked better...IMO.
HG, screw the reversal operation, & just make a Uey/Uie? & get back here ASAP!
I miss your posts!
HG, WEES. Please get back soon. You and your musings are missed.
On another note, I know that a lot of you out there are both readers and foodies. In that vein, I highly recommend a book that DW presented me with and I just finished. "The Raw and The Cooked" by Jim Harrison, a poet, novelist, screenwriter and essayist. Man, that guy can write. There is also a much older work by another author with the same title. Take care when selecting.
That's it for now. Happy Saturday, and to all you mother lovers out there, Happy Father's Day tomorrow.
Cya!
Gary.. my thoughts, prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery are with you...
WEES about the puzzle... especially Irish Miss...
Hope you all have a great day...
thelma
Wow this was tough. I was looking at a lot of blanks, got a phone call, came back 90 minutes later and dug in. Lots of ugly ink scratch outs but finally finished. So tough I almost need to take a shower now. Barrie does it again, a really gritty grinding but solvable puzzle.
Sorry but I forgot to mention my take on the purebred cat breed issue. The "MAU" incident, so to speak.
When I was researching cat ownership I came upon an Animal Planet show "CATS 101". I was quite surprised at the number of purebred cat breeds there are. If you liked "Egyptian Mau" you'll love "Havana Brown". Never mind the cat I actually got from foster which is a "Bombay", which is actually an American breed.
Anyway, it goes to show you that some of this stuff is common knowledge to a good part of the group while others strongly protest against it as too esoteric. Ain't life a wonder!
Best wishes for a complete recovery.
Cheers
Did you see the conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the moon last night? You get one more chance tonight for all three. Then, Venus and Jupiter will continue to get closer up until the closest point on the 30th and the 1st. It's a pretty sight.
Hey Gary, I'm thinking good thoughts for you!
Thanks for pointing out the conjunction, Bill! Assuming it doesn't cloud up, I'll take my son out this evening and show him.
I took the following photo back in 1991:
Conjunction of the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Mars
Damn, just read about Gary... :(
Kind thoughts heading your way, dude!
The EGYPTIAN MAU has appeared here before, most recently on Saturday, December 20th, 2014 (clued as "Egyptian ___: cat breed").
AnonPVX, like you, I remembered the cat from Animal Planets "Cats 101. Once I sussed EGYPTIAN, it was a gimmie. Pretty cats, and this from a dog man.
Bluehen- I went with the Bombay because it was described as the cat for those who have alway had dogs. And let me just say that I understand now what they meant.
Greetings!
All of my problems have been already voiced. Not my favorite Silkie. Good work, Splynter. Eventually had to turn on red letters.
Gary: get well soon!
Cheers!
Best wishes to H.G. and hope you get to go home soon.
This was a DNF due to the SE. DANA, HAUER, and ALGER side by side along with DARIEN & SENTIENCE ( a new word to me) slayed me. I had ANTE and TV but couldn't get ANTENNA.
Had EGYPTIAN but MAU,DANA, and WEAR at the end of STEALTH completed my demise.
8D BOSSY PANTS- all perps
22A- ELIN all perps
46A- I originally wrote PEDI as in pediatric; but PEDO was the only thing that allowed HOOPLA.
40D- had to change COLLAGE to GOULASH.
DASHY and TARTY sound like made up words. Something is 'tart' but what is 'tarty'?
44A- wanted HERESY instead of HEROICS but needed another letter.
47D- ERGOT- years ago that along with ANIL, ARIL, JAI ALAI, and a few others that were very common in X-words.
Running late today.
Gary,
Prayers and good thoughts for your speedy recovery. Hurry back! Your musings are an important part of my daily crossword life!
Hope you are better soon, Gary! My thoughts go out to you and Joann.
This was the second Silkie I have ever finished! I did need the help of the red letters, though. I wasn't too excited about DASHY and TARTY, but had DAYLABORERS correct in that area, which helped a lot. I had DIOR for DANA, and IRS at first, both of which were fixed when the red letters came on.
DARIEN was a gimmee, since we went past the house where they filmed when we were out in CT visiting our son and his wife. There is a nice little park close by.
I have always liked the title of Tina Fey's book; BOSSYPANTS is a (made up?) word that ust seems to suit that talented, goofy woman!
In my experience of reading, TARTY is usually meant as a woman dressed in a sexually provocative manner.
Hey, Bill, have you bought that mansion yet. I could really use a get-away to a cool place. Have you seen our temperatures? We may melt off the planet soon.
Hi all!
HG - Get well soon buddy - we have plan for your JSC visit in the fall.
I thought I was going to finish a Sat Silkie as I DASH(y?)ed through the north in ~50min. The only empty squares were 22 and 25 (just the squares) and thought I'll swing back for those when I get the South.
No HEROICS there. Silkie beat me up, took my lunch money and made me watch him eat the Snickers he bought w/ it. I got 32d, 44a, 36a, 46a, 51a (aROO). I finally asked the Google for 58a & 32d and 53d but still nothin' after another hour! Time to give up... [LENT?!? - doh! and I was such a good Catholic boy].
Oh, well it was fun and reading Splyters write-up and y'all's comments on the flight home after a TITT was bonus.
C.C. I hope you have Joann's contact info and can let us know how HG is doing. Let her know we're all pulling for him.
Cheers, -T
Follow-up for your amusement (laugh at / with me... take your pick)
33d I tried to stuff NICK@NITE since ME TV nor A AND E didn't work. Then went w/ NIK AT NITE... That did get me OCT :-)
I aslo had 56d - MOE and wanted mountainpuMas, but then the clue was singular (and pumas aren't spotted... are they?)
I had DOYLE at 48d and 55d (TIL) and tried to get STEEL TOE something... DOYLE is serendipitous as my brother's neighborhood in Naperville has Conan DOYLE and other literary figures (Frost, Faulkner, et.al) as street names. My brother, there for a year, never noticed (now laugh at / with him!)
Cheers, -T
Probably commenting too late for anyone to see, but ...
Never got to this one yesterday. Was gonna do it at the beach but it stayed in the backpack.
Really thought I was gonna pull this one off, but finally threw in the towel and googled DANA and ALGER. Had MELANGE and COLLAGE before GOULASH. Out of curiosity, I googled synonyms for hodgepodge -- there's a boatload.
Anyway, enjoyed it even though I DNFed. I'd rather have a challenging DNF than a mindlessly easy completion.
Antenna TV is ch 5.3 here in L.A. County on non-cable TV. Today (Father's day) they are currently showing The Great Escape. Competition for the U.S. open.
Two days later, and I finished it. Finally. Had to guess at MAU but nothing else would go. This was a tough one.
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