Theme: QWERTYUIOP - Top row of letters on a keyboard.
18A. *Pickled peppers picker : PETER PIPER
37A. *Miss Manners' concern : PROPER ETIQUETTE
59A. *Clog-clearing company : ROTO-ROOTER
4D. *Compete, as for a role : TRYOUT
47D. *Typewriter area, letterwise, for the answers to starred clues : TOP ROW
Argyle here. This appears to be a debut at LAT but he has had one published on NYT. Not surprisingly, many letters are missing today: {FGJKVXZ}. The two columns that are themed, while shorter than some of the rows, are still longer than any of the other Down words. Overall, a good start to the week.
Across:
1. Light fog : MIST
5. "No ifs, __ ..." : ANDS or buts.
9. Italian city known for a shroud : TURIN
14. __'acte : ENTR. (intermission)
15. Come in last : LOSE
16. Have __ in the hole : AN ACE. Up your sleeve is a no-no.
17. Make laugh in a big way : SLAY
20. Deodorant choice : AEROSOL
22. Raised one's glass to : TOASTED. At sunset?
23. Play lightly, as a guitar : STRUM
24. Greek X's : CHIs. Twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet.
25. Walked stealthily : TIPTOED
28. Bandleader Artie : SHAW
32. TV network with an eye logo : CBS
35. Reclined : LAIN. Correct today?
36. 1970s New York mayor Abe : BEAME
41. Classroom assistants : AIDES
42. In unison, in music : A DUE
43. Paranormal ability, for short : ESP
44. MD's "pronto" : STAT. From the Latin word statum, meaning 'immediately.'
45. Very, very old : ANCIENT
48. Mailbox opening : SLOT
49. Energy : OOMPH!
53. Proud member of a select group : ELITIST
57. Breathe : RESPIRE
61. Some old radios : RCAs
62. Love to pieces : ADORE
63. Grandkid spoiler, often : NANA
64. Cookie grain : OATS
65. Clearing-in-the-woods shelters : TENTS
66. Breaks off : ENDS
67. Water slide user's cry : "WHEE!"
Down:
1. Flat-topped lands : MESAs
2. Coastline recess : INLET
3. Fab Four drummer Ringo : STARR
5. Purina dog food brand : ALPO
6. Christmas carol : NOEL
7. Annual reason to reset clocks: Abbr. : DST. Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 1.
8. Do a slow burn : SEETHE
9. Spanish appetizers : TAPAS
10. Les États-__ : UNIS. (the United States)
11. Hanging on every word : RAPT
12. Slurpee alternative : ICEE
13. "The Big Bang Theory" type : NERD
19. __ rage: PED user's aggression : ROID. (PED - Performance-enhancing drugs, like steroids)
21. Expresses happiness : SMILES
24. Address book entry : CONTACT
26. Golf goal : PAR
27. Even score : TIE
28. Understand : SEE
29. Detest : HATE
30. Pts. and qts., for two : AMTS. (amount)
31. Cry one's eyes out : WEEP
32. Tax pros : CPAs. (Certified Public Accountant)
33. London native, informally : BRIT
34. Fizz in a gin fizz : SODA water.
36. __ Aires : BUENOS
38. Shelter adoptee : PET
39. Dictator Amin : IDI
40. Canadian prov. bordering Vt. : QUEbec
45. "Just want to add ..." : "ALSO ... "
46. Nary a soul : NOT ONE
48. Stable studs : SIRES
50. Biblical prophet : MICAH. Also, the sheriff on "The Rifleman".
51. Chatter endlessly : PRATE
52. "Steppenwolf" author Hermann : HESSE
53. Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT
54. Miner's bonanza : LODE
55. "Bring __!": "Let's fight!" : IT ON
56. Civil suit cause : TORT
57. Tear violently : REND
58. Gay Nineties and Roaring Twenties : ERAs
60. Almond-colored : TAN
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
Here is a cute picture of JD's grandsons at the Monterey Dunes. JD told me last time that "both Truman and Grady are playing both soccer and baseball. Cameron plays soccer, but has a swim class once a week and also gymnastics, which they offer at his school. Truman and Grady have a golf class after school once a week too."
Left to Right: Cameron, Grady (Truman's little brother), Dylan (Front, Cameron's little brother) & Truman
Picture-perfect posture from Grady.
Also click here for a fun "Complete Vs Finished" explanation JD sent to me last night.
Had I done it on paper, today would have been FIW, but the lack of a ta-da warned me I still had an error hidden in the grid. I had entered BEANE, which made 30d a ridiculous ANTS. I read the reveal before I even looked for the gimmick, but not sure I would have found it anyway.
ReplyDeleteThere was never a stewardess named Qwerty Yuiop.
In the stadium, 'ers wasn't the ROW at the TOP.
She wasn't the blighter
Who designed the TYPEWRITER.
'ER ETIQUETTE never required a PROP!
(Points to the trivia master who SEEs what I did there!)
There once was a quiet burglar who boasted
He could TIPTOE right past where the guardian was posted.
He wouldn't have missed,
But his AEROSOL MIST
Gave the sentry his scent, and he got taser TOASTED!
(Would the bureaucrat in charge of electric guns be the Taser Tsar?
He would be until he was discharged!)
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteSwell puzzle and expo, Scot and Santa!
BEAME was perped. No nits.
Father Brown was especially good tonight, I thought.
Skipped through the Emmys. Everyone I was rooting for lost!
Time to sleep!
Cheers!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteSlightly crunchy for a Monday, what with the unknown/not remembered BEAME and a theme that didn't exactly jump out at me during the solve. I misspelled BUENOS as BUENAS, which caused me a little grief until I got it fixed. Ditto for entering NOBODY instead of NOT ONE. Everything else was smooth sailing today.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteZoomed right through, as expected on a Monday, but once the theme light came on - fabulous! You gotta appreciate the cleverness, plus a themed grid spanner right smack in the middle. Well done, Scot Ober!
Only unknown was Beame. Never heard of the guy.
Morning, Argyle, maybe you knew of ol' Abe.
C.C., really enjoyed the complete vs. finished story. If that fellow thought it up on the spot, he must be simply brilliant.
Coincidentally (?), this was the NPR Sunday puzzle on 9/13/15:
ReplyDelete"It's a well-known curiosity that the longest common unhyphenated word that can be typed on the top row of a typewriter or computer keyboard is TYPEWRITER.
Find a common hyphenated word in 12 letters that can be typed using only the keys on the top row of a typewriter or computer keyboard."
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteHad I worked the puzzle online, I might have gotten the theme. Cute, but nope. It remained "shrouded" in MISTery. Hand up for NOBODY before NOT ONE.
I would argue that DST is a bi-annual reason to re-set clocks.
That prophet's name was actually Isinglass, but his mother called him MICAh for short.
BETTER
ReplyDeleteTOP ROW
http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2015/07/verdi-aria-for-baritone-wed-7-15-15.html
JD, cute pics of the grandkids. They seem to be very athletic.
ReplyDeleteComplete vs finished LOL.
If we were to stay on DST, there would be no need to change the clocks this fall. Standard time is requiring this change. IMO DST is the reason to reset the clocks only in the spring or annually.
I dread the early onset of darkness. I cope with the dark better in the early Am.
ROID was all perps. It seems to me not a Monday word.
Nice to see LAIN used correctly.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Scot Ober, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteD-O: Ha Ha
Mr. Google: I liked your TYPEWRITER tidbit. Good one.
Zipped through this one. Theme eluded me until I was done and then I looked closely and figured it out. Very clever (not me, the constructor).
Only unknown was ROID. CHIS helped me with that. After I read somebody's comments, it made sense.
Lots of STARRs. Had Bart STARR the other day.
OOMPH took a few perps.
Our friend IDI again. He has been popular through the years.
Lots to do. see you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteA quirky QWERTY theme. But is it the TOP ROW? My keyboard has the numbers row atop it and then a mostly function row above that. Hope nobody wants to bring IT ON like with the commas.
Did not like ROID. Otherwise I thought the puzzle had good cluing and some bright fill.
PRATE - The Dutch verb 'praten' means 'to talk' or 'to chatter'. Probably related.
Have a great day.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteA fun, easy start to the week. The theme stayed well-hidden until the reveal, which is my preference. Thought of Tin at toasted and the crossing _ _ _ e!
Nicely done, Scot, and nicely explained, Scott! 🎄
From yesterday:
Anon @ 6:09 - If one subscribes to a newspaper and pays dearly for it, why wouldn't you expect to have it delivered to your door? I read numerous newspapers online, but I want a hard copy of my local paper, 2015 or not.
Anon @ 6:37 - If I live to be 100, I will NEVER understand why someone would criticize or belittle the sincere and compassionate comments of two of the kindest and nicest people on this blog. Shame on you, whoever you are!
Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteOwen, how clever of you to write a limerick looking at the keyboard of a typewriter!
Scot, a bit crunchy for Monday but thoroughly enjoyable. I agree with the question about ROID, but that's a minor nit. I also struggled more than I should have with OOMPH, but I laughed when it appeared. Loved the theme!
Thanks for walking us through it, Argyle.
Irish Miss, I am missing the comments you mentioned from Anons. That makes me hope someone checks the blog and removes the nasty stuff that appears here occasionally. Like you, I can't imagine why anyone would post mean comments, just to be mean.
Well I needed ESP (Every Single Perp) to get BEAME.
ReplyDeleteKinda funny how a guy who grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida doesn't remember the name of a 1970's New York City mayor.
Of course my fave today was that you all will be TOASTED at Sunset.
Cheers!
Thank you Scot and Argyle. Never noticed the starred clues. A few minors typeovers for first fill errors. Other than that, no struggles. You both brought me some SMILES !
ReplyDelete'70s NYC Mayor ? Don't recall BEAME, but it perped in easily enough. Definitely remember John Lindsay. Lindsay seemed to be omnipresent on the evening news when he was the mayor. Read the WIKI on him a week or so ago. Also recently read the WIKIs on Dale Messick and "Brenda STARR, Reporter."
Yea ! Got A DUE w/o perp help. It is only known to me DUE to crosswords. Kind of like that SETI / UFO thing.
ANCIENT. Mom and dad always favored having some country primitives in their antique shops. Early American furniture, farm tools, and the like. Not really primitive in terms of being ANCIENT, but the word had a common understanding with dealers, buyers, and sellers. I have about a dozen pieces throughout the house.
I know PRATE from prattle. We've had a lot of childish prattle on the blog in the last couple of days. Prattle doesn't have to be childish. "As long as old men sit and talk about the weather, as long as old women sit and talk about old men."
Or are they just being loquacious ?
Some of you might find this interesting. It's the first one on Illinois. First I've ever seen of one. Diverging Diamond Interchange. Just read the WIKI on it. Neat.
Anon at 7:16, as Rex Parker pointed out, Bruce Haight did not include the letter Q which means the top row was not included.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Scot and Scott, a new band?
Abe BEAME was Mayor when The (NY) Daily News came out with the famous headline, "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD" (October 30, 1975).
ReplyDeleteI was in junior high school when MAD magazine came out with a POIUYT on its cover.
ReplyDeleteAll the letters in the theme answers were in the top row of the alphabet keys, but not all the letters in the top row were in the theme answers. Who says they should be? No nit for me.
ReplyDeleteBTW I name the alphabet rows: top row, home row, bottom row.
This was a fun Monday speed run, although I didn't get the theme until I came to the blog. I guess I've never bothered to see what letters go where on a keyboard until this morning. Thanks, Scot, and thanks for explaining it all, Argyle.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of ABE BEAME either until I ran across the name in a recent crossword puzzle. The things you learn from doing crosswords--amazing!
Sweet grandchildren, JD.
Have a wonderful week, everybody!
Hello, friends!
ReplyDeleteWHEE! This was a fun romp and a CSO to me, NANA, and all other grandmothers here.
Speaking of which, JD, those are precious photos of your grandchildren. Also a CSO to all our BRIT friends here on the BLog.
Yes, it's good to see LAIN clued correctly.
This took under 10 minutes and I see that in my haste I again failed to check and had ROAD rage. Drat!
OwenKL:
Very clever poem. I see that you split PROPER ETIQUETTE.
Desper-otto:
LOL!
Have a lovely Monday, everyone!
Good morning all,
ReplyDeleteAnother great start to the week. Had only a few sticky spots: roid, Beame and adue. The cover theme was well hidden, but that is nothing new for me. I usually have to read the blog to get it.Thanks Argyle. It would be nice to see the cleverness of the creators while doing the puzzle.
C.C., thanks for posting "my boys." Athletic? Probably no more than any other active little boys...just need to keep them busy so they are not completely lost in our electronic world. This is a whole new world for me since I have 2 girls.
Great, very enjoyable start to the week.
ReplyDeleteJust back from playing 18 holes with my friend and his ANNOYING cousin!!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-I ripped right through the puzzle but the theme took some figgerin’
-A different ROOTER I followed home from the course today
-Anyone can TRY OUT
-The longest words using only the top row - perpetuity, proprietor, typewriter, requietory, repertoire
-Much research places the age of the SHROUD at only 700 yrs
-The LAID/LAIN dialogue yesterday was a fun “tempest in a teapot”
-Are women really likely to have more ESP?
-Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson seems to lack OOMPH
-Sherpas chopped out bases for these TENTS high up Everest
-Ringo STARR – genius or luckiest man in rock and roll history?
-If I ever PAR the 14th hole at Oakland, NE…
-Shelter adoptee – See avatar of our “little girl” Lily
-The Smithsonian’s Aerial America told of the perils of men working in Nevada’s Comstock LODE mines
-Wonderful pix, Judy!
-What 1939 four hour classic had this graphic at intermission?
p.s. Thanks for the kind comments about my blog of C.C.'s wonderful Sunday puzzle. At best, I always feel like a frame around a masterpiece and appreciate the fine work all the bloggers do.
ReplyDeleteHG, a 1939 classic? My money's on "Gone With The Wind".
ReplyDeleteMr. Google got part of my limerick puzzle by noting that TYPEWRITER (which I allcapped even though it wasn't in the puzzle) is reputedly the longest word that can by typed using the TOP letter-key ROW (sorry I can't figure out your 12-letter one). But it's not the only word with a special property.
ReplyDeleteOKL: 'ER ETIQUETTE doesn't use the top row letters P, R, O, and P (i.e. doesn't require a PROP).
ReplyDelete(Note the appropriate use of the Oxford comma.)
Well, perhaps that should have been "'ER ETIQUETTE doesn't use the top row letters P, R, and O".
ReplyDelete* I enjoyed the puzzle. As always, thanks Scot and Scott.
ReplyDelete* I didn't know GWTW was made that long ago.
* Bananas... I like 'em bright yellow with no (or almost no) brown spots and just a tiny pale tinge of green at the ends. If the green is totally gone on a banana and the brown spots are beginning to appear, I wish I had thought to eat it the day before.
* It's still awfully hot. The A/C in the supermarket felt good. I'm looking forward to the A/C in the coffee shop this PM. I'm drinking my latte with ice these days; that is, iced latte, not ice latte. Louis L'Amour keeps me cool while sipping.
* We had a short power failure last night. No TV, no computer, no fans. Just candles and my Nook to keep me entertained.
Husker @ 1346 - Since your URL included the letters gwtw, I'm going to go with Gone With the Wind.
ReplyDeleteHusker Gary
ReplyDeleteThe Wiki article on Gone With the Wind shows it had both an intermission and an entr‘acte.
GWTH
“Running time 221 minutes
234–238 minutes (with overture, intermission, entr'acte, and exit music)"
Does anyone remember if there was a shorter intermission, called the entr‘acte as well as a longer intermission? I saw the movie in 1967 so I don't recall.
Wiki has a discussion of the difference between intermission and entr ‘acte:
Intermission_VS_entr’acte
Cool puzzle, very enjoyable. At first, when I filled PETER PIPER and ROTO ROOTER, I thought the gimmick was alliteration; then PROPER ETIQUETTE blew that theory out of the water. I never would have figured the TOP ROW phenomenon by myself.
ReplyDeleteBillG:
ReplyDeleteBanana bread is a wonderful use for over ripe bananas.
Again, I failed to thank Scot and Scott and the theme would never have occurred to me, so thank you, Argyle. You are a wonder!
Yes, Virginia, there is an intermission (don’t you get tired of that?) and thanks for the link. Of course the entr’acte was from GWTW. These entr’acte’s and intermissions were much more common when there were long movies such as Sound Of Music and My Fair Lady in theaters with reserved seating. Movie houses thought people needed to get up, stretch their legs and buy ludicrously overpriced concessions. Nowadays the films are not that long so the movie can be shown more often.
ReplyDeleteMy experience was similar to OwenKL's (& Lucina), alas without the poetry.
ReplyDelete19D I had the RO-D & with a clue like (Blank)-rage, of course I put "road."
Curiously, I did not come to the Blog to find out why (24A=Cha?)Greek had gone Mexican,
but to find out why "road rage" was a PEDestrian users aggression...???
The only inkblot: 38D shelter adoptee, Cat b/4 pet. I can't imagine why...
Desper-otto@6:45: Ooooh! You got me good! I was half way thru Googling Isinglas when the V8 can hit me!
( Dang it! It's like you threw that can at me yourself & scored a direct hit!)
Ouch!
Irish Miss@9:07 The Anon comments you referred to were gone by the time I got to the Blog, & I was left puzzled...
Sincere, compassionate, nicest, kindest people on the Blog?
(Were they talking about me?)
Swampcat @ 9:48 an CED @ 5:00 - The comments I referenced were on yesterday's blog @ 6:09 and 6:37. And, yes, CED, you qualify for those complimentary adjectives, as well!
ReplyDeleteBillG: I'm not being snarky but your defense of Taco Hell the other day coupled with today's description of the perfect banana really leaves me sympathetic for your culinary acumen. I have eaten both a Taco Supreme and a not-quite ripe banana, so I can only scratch my head thinking about your palate.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss,
ReplyDeleteI too thought that you were commenting on something that had been posted this AM, and then removed, rather than yesterday. I don't understand why anyone would want to vent on this blog about what the newspaper does wrong. It's not like anyone on this blog could do anything about the errors of the Tribune Media Service... I think it was probably one or just a few people intentionally trying to be annoying. That's my pov.
"As long as old men sit and talk about the weather, as long as old women sit and talk about old men" are lyrics in the Randy Travis song, Forever And Ever, Amen
"-Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson seems to lack OOMPH"
I loved the acceptance speech Julia Louise Dreyfus did last night after winning.
"What a great honor it must be for you to honor me tonight,’” the entertainer deadpanned. “Oh wait, oh God. No, no. I’m so sorry. Donald Trump said that.”
Donald Trump doesn't seem to lack chutzpah.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss and TTP, I looked up the posts from yesterday, but my response really remains the same. Why do some Anons feel the need to be hateful and mean spirited?
Most of us here are just having fun with the puzzles and with words in general. Yes, we differ. It is fun that so many different viewpoints and experiences are represented here. But , as with the great Oxford Comma debacle, it all in good fun.
I just don't understand hateful!
Chiquita Juarez ( I hope I spelled it right) - Why don't you leave Bill G. alone. His palate should only be of concern to him and his DW. Bill G., by the way, I LOVE your posts even if I don't share in your eclectic tastes. To each his own.
ReplyDeleteI came here to discuss about a young American moslem boy, Abdulla Mohammed, a 14 yr old from Irving, Texas, who was handcuffed, finger printed, intensely and violently interogated and totally shocked by the Irving police for bringing an 'invention' ( actually a reassembly of a commercial product ) of an alarm clock, in a briefcase to class, last Monday. This has resulted in sympathy all around the nation, and even the president has invited him to the White House. The Ahmed Mohamed Story .
The connection to this blog ? The teacher who 'outed' him, and called the police, that caused him so much misery, was his (female ) English Teacher. Their language skills may be excellent, and their written 'style' exquisite, but you can't expect them to know Jack squat about the inner workings of alarm clocks.
That 'clock' sure didn't look like a bomb to me (from the photos) but it didn't look much like a clock either. If I had been the teacher, I might have decided to let the principal deal with it too, unless I knew the kid really well. Since this happened early in the school year, I probably wouldn't have felt like I knew him much at all. Maybe the police over-reacted. I don't know. Imagine everyone's outrage if they had under-reacted, ignored the whole 'invention' and it had turned out to be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThere's photos that show the clock next to a bomb. What the photos don't show is that the bomb is as big as a suitcase, while the clock was built in a pencil case!
ReplyDeleteSince no one answered my trivia puzzle, STEWARDESSES is reputed to be the longest word that can be typed with just the left hand. (Maybe that's left thumb, today?)
Isn't PROPER ETIQUETTE redundant?
ReplyDeleteAnd since when is WEEP to "cry one's eyes out"? That would be BAWL, wouldn't it? In order of intensity: PULE, WEEP, CRY, SOB, BAWL.