I knew it was Friday and we were in for some shenanigans when I saw the blank grid with the three interesting shapes from NW to SE. I was not immediately sure what they were, but having done Bruce's E puzzle, I was ready. The asterisks and the reveal made this doable but it was a challenge. Bruce has decided to create a six themer,with a reveal, where each 7 letter word has only letters which can be notes (A B C D E F and G). This one is a visual treat, with the short theme answers leaving room for a boatload of sparkly fill. AKIHITO, A LACK OF, APOLLO I, BAGGAGE, BUSSING, DO I DARE, EROTICA, GONERIL, LATINOS, OLEANNA. ON TOP OF, RELEARN, POP-UP ADS, BICAMERAL, NATURALIST, POLICEWOMAN. These are not all easy, but they were fun. He also uses the downs to create triple stacks of 7s in each corner with the theme on the outside, intersecting with two double stacks. Add two 10 letter climbers and there is your puzzle. Bruce, I like your style. let's walk.
32A. *Vandalized, in a way : DEFACED (7). Like your street artists?
39A. *Head of the produce section? : CABBAGE (7). Lettuce dispense with bad vegetable puns, please!
1D. *Yielded : ACCEDED (7).
12D. *Place for oats : FEEDBAG (7). No horsing around.
36D. *Emotional burden : BAGGAGE (7). Looks like CABBAGE's evil twin.
42D. *Wiped out : EFFACED (7). I realize with the limitation of using only 7 letters things will look similar, but this and 32A are really close.
and the reveal
52A. They're graphically represented three times in this grid ... and the answers to starred clues are the six longest common words than can be spelled using only them : NOTES (5).
Across:
1. Stirs : ADOS.
5. He wrote about "a midnight dreary" : POE. Now, 170 years since publication; a sample:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'
8. Gobble (up) : SNARF.
13. Die, with "out" : CONK. Like a car engine.
14. Blog entry : POST. Weekly.
15. Capital of India : RUPEE. We get both kinds back to back in this clecho.
16. Capital __ : CITY.
17. Colorful fish : OPAH. Also known as moonfish.
19. Old Tokyo : EDO.
20. Haul to the kitchen, as groceries : LUG IN. I like the word lug, but no this fill.
22. Word before or after dog : SLED. I do like the challenge of before and after words. 4D. Word before or after blue : SKY.
23. High-five relative : DAP. We had this fist bump recently.
24. Poison remedy : IPECAC. Now controversial emetic. LINK. And more next door clecho.
26. Poison test site : LAB.
27. Steamy stuff : EROTICA.
30. Queen of the Goths in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" : TAMORA. We get some Shakespeare almost every Friday.
33. Romantic activity : BUSSING. Great word; not affirmative action but "a kiss," 1560s; probably of imitative origin, as are Welsh and Gaelic bus "kiss, lip," French baiser "kiss" (12c., from Latin basiare), Spanish buz, German dialectal Buss. (Dictionary).
34. Words of wisdom : SAWS. Generally old ones.
35. Country on the Strait of Hormuz : IRAN.
43. Old-style warning : ALARUM.
44. Rather little : A LACK OF.
45. Understand : GET. Ah, I get it.
46. Deli staple : SALAMI.
49. Like Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" : IN F.
50. Horse show concern : GAIT.
53. 2000 World Series venue : SHEA. The SUBWAY Series.
54. Yearbook, e.g. : ANNAL.
56. Bakery buy : TART.
57. Newspaper fig. : CIRCular.
58. Little garden party? : GNOME. Really cute clue for an ugly statue.
59. Mazatlán Mrs. : SRA. Senora.
60. End in __ : A TIE.
61. Facilitated : EASED.
62. Suffer : AIL.
63. Squealed : TOLD. My brothers and I learned early to never squeal on each other.
Down:
2. "Is it worth the risk?" : DO I DARE. Nice letter pattern and stack.
3. Knowledgeable about : ON TOP OF. Old Smokey?
5. Online annoyances : POP-UP ADS.
6. Oklahoma county in which a 2008 Pulitzer-winning drama is set : OSAGE. Anybody? LINK.
7. Work __ : ETHIC.
8. Many AARP mems. : SRS. Seniors,
9. "Darn it!" : NUTS.
10. Ill-fated 1967 mission : APOLLO I. Sad HISTORY. HG?
11. Brush up on : RELEARN.
14. Member of the force : POLICEWOMAN. PEPPER was so spicy. 28D. 14-Down's need, at times : TASER.
21. Darwin, for one : NATURALIST. He ran around without clothes?
25. Fruit named for a Turkish town : CASABA. This MELON named for KASABA.
29. Legendary flier : ICARUS. Poor guy, it was his fall that made him famous.
31. "Morning Joe" airer : MSNBC. Do you watch?
33. Like Congress : BICAMERAL. Two bodies.
37. 1992 Mamet play : OLEANNA. And 1994 MOVIE.
38. Fast-growing U.S. ethnic group : LATINOS.
40. Reigning emperor of Japan : AKIHITO.
41. Regan's poisoner, in Shakespeare : GONERIL. An extra Will.
47. "__ luck!" : LOTSA.
48. Asteroids maker : ATARI.
53. "Buzz off!" : SCAT. I see scat for four legged animals, buzz off for two.
55. Went first : LED. In this case, out the door as another week has passed. Thanks Bruce for your semi-annual Friday LAT. Another week, on that note.... Lemonade out.
52 comments:
Morning, all!
Fun puzzle today. I noticed the weird grid right up front, but didn't think anything of it while solving until I finally got the theme reveal (which, I'm sad to say, required all the perps to get). Great big *AHA* moment at that point.
AKIHITO was only vaguely familiar to me, but enough so that I had no trouble accepting it once the perps filled it in. Not so with TAMORA, which was so unknown that I was sure I had an error. In fact, I was pretty sure it had to be TAMARA, except that APOLLA couldn't possibly be right. So I stuck with TAMORA and was pleasantly surprised to get the *TADA* at the end.
ONTO POF ?
CABBAGE - ha ha.
Yep, remembered DAP from the last time.
Had IPECAC in another puzzle in the last couple of days.
I don't understand GNOMES in gardens. Why are they there ?
Is it true that 98 % of the states have bicameral legislative bodies ? And then there is ?
"Like (composer)" = IN- and wait if three letters.
Fortunately, perps were relatively easy when needed. TAMORA ? Good thing I got that intersecting O from APOLLO.
Almost tanked in the SE with adjacent A-IHITO and G-NERIL until I realized "Rather little" = ALAC--F was not some kind of musical direction. Well, that and being fairly confident it should be an O...
Thank you Bruce and Lemonade. Noticed the asterisks but not the symbols until seeing the clue for 52A.
Good morning!
Asterisks? Didn't notice 'em. Reveal? Once again, failed to read the entire clue. Theme? Didn't get it. But I did manage to solve the puzzle, and I was able to figure out that those black blobs were supposed to be notes.
The SE was rough. My POLITICAL LETTUCE from OMAN finally morphed into BICAMERAL CABBAGE from IRAN. Then things started to click in that area.
TTP, I believe either Husker Gary or Avg. Joe mentioned the unicameral (one hump?) legislature in Nebraska. That was back during the hoo-hah over the death penalty.
NEBRASKA GOVERNMENT
Good Morning!
That's was toughie. Thanks Bruce for the Friday challenge. I struggled in the NW corner which was the last to fall for me. Walking away worked this time. Loved head of produce, although I also tried Lettuce before CABBAGE. Liked the cluing for ADOS once it hit me in the head!
I remember the horrifying news of APOLLO I as if it were yesterday. . . .
I wonder: Does a unicameral legislature accomplish more? Nobody next door to botch the job.
Thanks for the run through, Lemonade. While I finally made it, I couldn't see the forest for the trees until you explained it.
Enjoy the day.
This one turned into a speed run, fastest Friday. I noticed the unusual grid right away, so the reveal wasn't a surprise but I hadn't noticed the character of the theme entries until then. Only unknowns were TAMORA and OLEANNA, although GONERIL and AKIHITO required some mental prodding.
Thanks for a fun puzzle, Bruce. And a fine summary, Lemonade -- especially liked the "X-rated" clip, which came to my mind also with BOLERO.
Tough, tough, tough! Found numerous toe-holds early, but no areas where I could complete the entire bloc. Stumbled from place to place, and finally ended up in the SE corner with several blanks. A lack of was the hardest phrase to parse. Kept wanting a la ........something. Finally saw it and wrapped it up. So, a very challenging Friday, but doable.
Yes, Nebraska has the only Unicameral. The consensus seems to be that it works better. Party politics have been a lot more prominent in the past 10-15 years than they had been previously, but there is still considerable independence demonstrated by the 49 Senators on some issues. And it certainly gives rise to some odd alliances among unlikely comrades. I think it's a positive thing, but don't know if it would work on a broader basis, or even in a more populous state. Keep in mind we have fewer than 2 million residents. Nebraska is also the only state that has an entirely public electric system. That works very well.
A speedy Friday. TAMORA and OLEANNA were all perps. A few crosses gave me GONERIL and AKIHITO.
I slowed down in the NE because I wrote a few entries in the wrong cells. After correcting that and working around the resulting inkblot, it was not difficult.
I find SCARF down more common than SNARF, but -UTS, Nuts for DARN IT, required the N.
I liked this different type of theme, Bruce. Lemonade, thanks for the great summary.
I hate LUGging the bags from a large grocery order to the kitchen. I am glad when Alan is home to help me.
I must have been gone when you had DAP before--I've never heard of it before. I also thought CONK was spelled KONK, making ACCEDED my last fill, when the penny finally dropped as to what was meant by the theme. I had also forgotten that EDO had an E and not I, so that added to my NW problems. But in the end, this was easier than yesterday for me.
Have a great weekend, all of you!
If anyone is interested in knowing more about the adoption and functioning of the NE unicameral, Here's a pretty good article
Good morning everyone.
A fun Friday puzzle for all the reasons Lemon mentioned.
Only write-over was I had 'vee' before DAP.
ABCEDFG words - And then there is DEBADGED which could have happened to a former 14d. It is Friday.
I guess the family name for pea, Fabaceae, is not common; but it is Friday.
Good job, Bruce, a real hoot.
Good Morning:
This had some bite but nothing that couldn't be solved. I understood the theme when Notes filled in, but it took some intense staring at the grid to see the symbolic notes. How clever! 🎶 Fav clue was Little garden party=Gnome.
Thanks, Bruce and Lemonade, for a fine Friday challenge and summation.
Kazie, your avatar is sweet.
Is anyone else inundated with scam telemarketer calls? I get an average of 6 or more a day. I don't answer but it is still annoying, as is the amount of junk mail I receive, snail and electronic. Just think of what we have to look forward to with the upcoming election season. 👿
Have a great day.
I think newspaper fig. was circULATION
Thanks for the good Friday workout Bruce and the writeup Lemonade. I am especially fond of the pictures you post.
I saw the theme hint at 52A as I got my few first fill-ins, POE, BOLERO, and EDO. I looked at the grid design and said, Quarter Notes. But then I couldn’t see that the theme answers used N-O-T-E-S. When I finally got FEEDBAG, the light bulb went off and the rest of the themes were easier because I knew that the letters ABCDEFG were the only ones I could use. Switched Lettuce to CABBAGE immediately, for example.
Slow perp work and memory coming back helped with all but the NE and CUTS. Looked up ACCEDED to be sure it was a word. When I tried SNARF for the ScARF I had I was surprised to get a Ta Dah! since I was not sure on some spellings. I also had trouble with NUTS yesterday’s puzzle. BTW, SCARFED AND SNARFED are synonyms in my Kindle ODE.
Happy Weekend to all,
VS
Thanks for the ideas and info on the uniCAMERAL Nebraska legislature. Interesting.
Merci.
I definitely remember Apollo 1 because I was with a buddy on my first ever tour of the space center when it happened. Suddenly it was announced, in the middle of our tour, that the space center was closing, and we all had to get onto the bus and be taken to the parking lot and leave. We didn't have a clue what was happening, and only later, back at the motel in Cocoa Beach watching the evening news did we find out about the disaster.
Anyway, difficult puzzle, solved mostly by Mister Google. While I did fill it in completely, I cant really say I "got 'er done" today. Fun exercise, none-the-less, thanks Bruce for thoroughly busting my chops with this one. Terrific write-up, as usual, Thanks Lemonade.
I guess Owen must be off on a cruise or something. I miss his limericks!
Hello, friends!
Yes, a fun Friday which with a few stumbles I finished unassisted. SCARF (up) preceded SNARF (up) and ROMANCE gave way to EROTICA and LETTUCE then CABBAGE from OMAN but IRAN won the day.
Thank you, Bruce for a lovely puzzle and a great way to start the day. And than you, Lemonade, for your elegant expo.
Have a splendiferous day, everyone!
Correction: Thank you, Lemonade.
Lucina, I took your "than you" to be an obscure Desi Arnaz reference. It is all good.
I needed Google a couple of times but when I sussed out some of the clever clues by myself, it was very satisfying. I enjoyed finding the notes in the grid and the long words using only them. Thanks Bruce and Lemon.
Hey Irish Miss--Yes, we are also swamped with telemarketer calls, several each day. When I answer the phone, if there is a pause after 'Hello', I prepare to hang up. One of them threatens legal action if I don't deal with them. Geez...
The weather is going to be hot here today; hot even near the coast and over 100 in the valleys. Watch out Lucina!
I might need a nap in order to be able to cope...
I could have searched until the national debt is paid and not seen the brilliant theme. Lemon’s erudite summary paragraph works for me.
Musings
-Subbing today but giving tests. $20/hr for babysitting and I get paid for blogging the puzzle. What a country!
-Some cities make EFFACING DEFACING a priority
-Rupees required at an Indian McDonalds
-To those who knew GONERIL, TAMORA and OLEANNA without perps
-Some SAWS are racist or sexist or… – “All ____ are ___”
-I was going to say some anon’s here show a LACK OF courage and civility, but I decided not to
-CIRC handwriting on the wall
-DO I DARE? replaced SHOULD I?
-APOLLO I was a mission designation but it burned up on the pad. NASA was going too fast to meet JFK’s being on the moon “before the decade is out” target date
-Darwin was the “shake ‘em up” guy of his time like Galileo
-Nebraska’s senate chamber has been empty since 1937
-LED’s we installed last week,uh, had installed
-More 8th graders coming in to discuss The Landlady
Bill G, any telelmarketer that threatens legal action where none is warranted is subject penalties which include paying the offended party damages. Tell them you are recording the call, hire a lawyer (who will be paid by the offender) and good luck
HG, loved the pic of the inside of an Indian McD's
Hi all!
A typical Friday DNF for me. I CONK'd out at 43a & 42d (I had AtARmM (?) and EFaECED respectively (the a was leftover from Erased - ink blob there)).
Thanks Bruce, I had fun. Thanks Lem, you EASED me through my errors.
1st pass, POE, POST, LAB(?), ATARI, SALAMI. The latter let the S. Central fall, and then w/ 33d & 21d the east mostly fell. All the names (that I got) were ESPs. One day I should expand my educations and GET smart.
Looking fwd to the Astros to take game 2 today. Sorry HG, there's been a dry spell in our CITY.
Fav - SALAMI (and provolone) on sour dough.
My brother and fam come in this afternoon. If you don't hear from me later, it's 'cuz he ply'd me w/ beer. That's what you're TOLD, so there you are :-)
Cheers, -T
Just. Can't. Help. Myself. (Saw something similar on Facebook:-)
It's been widely reported in the past 24 hours that Washington is in turmoil over efforts to elect a new speaker of the House.
I would hereby like to nominate Klipsch!
Since when is it acceptable to just make up words? I am talking about 8 across.
"snarf" is not a word. Not in the context of this clue anyway.
"scarf" fits the clue but the "c" for "n" substitution does not work for 9 down. But they allowed it anyway. That is like hammering picture puzzle pieces into place when they don't fit naturally. It's cheating. 8 across today is nothing short of cheating.
I quickly found SNARF on Google meaning to eat greedily. In informal speech, I would use 'scarf' up instead but SNARF seems to be OK too.
I came across a younger Julie Bowen and Kerry Washington in reruns of Boston Legal. They looked good then and still do.
Avg Joe, my money's on Boston Acoustics.
Hands up for SHOULDI and SCARF. SNARF sounded funny, but looked it up and it seems to be a word.
We see a lot of theater, so GONERIL, TAMORA and OLEANNA were not that hard, even if I couldn't spell them right the first time, or immediately recall TAMORA. We've actually seen Titus (and all the rest of Will's plays). Names are tricky--either you are familiar with the subject area, or you're not. (Gimme characters in plays, but keep your pop singers.) OLEANNA is a very disturbing play, about (alleged) sexual discrimination. When the prof loses it and hits the woman, some audience have been known to cheer. Had to read it and another Mamet play for a play-reading class taught by the artistic director of a Chicago theater--great class. Harking back to yesterday and thinking about Jeeves & Bertie in P.G. Wodehouse's work--they are part of a long tradition of smart or wily servants and clueless masters in plays: stock characters in commedia dell'arte, Importance of Being Earnest by Wilde, Travesties by Stoppard, etc.
Musings 2
-I am now running a sophomore study hall. ZZZZ…
-Our unicameral is still sufficiently political, thank you very much. The big divides are rural/city and east/west
-Redux – a man with a heavy middle European accent had almost intimidated Joann into some computer activities just as I got home. I deferred unceremoniously. I have also told her not to yell at telemarketers. They don’t care.
-Yeah, T, I’m a KC fan but they don’t seem as hungry as they were last year. However, the franchise made BIG bucks with near sellouts every night!!
-Lemon, one of the amazing things about that menu is that it is in English. We found that true in most of Europe.
-Fred, I was playing snooker when the APOLLO I news came over the b/w TV.
-When I first saw the grid, I thought of this
-One class for which I am subbing is reading this book whose author’s name has graced our puzzles
SNARF stumped me. I had SCARF, even though I couldn't make sense of CUTS as clued. Solved the entire puzzle but got no tada and had to turn on red letters to see where I went astray. DARN that N!
I didn't understand the NOTES theme until you explained it, Lemonade. Until then, I wondered how words can be made up only of notes.
Lucina, how do you like your new cell phone?
I also think Julie Bowen is pretty. It looks like she has recently lost too much weight, though.
Fermatprime, thanks for your good wishes late last evening.
Good wishes to you all.
Avg Joe, good one!
Oleanna is a good play. We saw a performance of it with William H. Macy as the teacher. The subject matter is rather profound, and LW and I reacted with great discomfort, which I bet is what Mr. Mamet intended. I generally like his work.
ANON @ 1:18, just look it up before you complain. Because you have never heard of a word does not mean that it is "made up."
Jayce explaining themes that is the reason for all of us who write the blogs, to fill in holes. It is how I discovered the Corner and it is what we do, and if we are lucky entertain as well. I solved without worrying about themes for years and now appreciate the great subtelties of the human mind
Husker, was that Steve Martin as the Egyptian? King Tut!
Jayce, I guess in your case the musical note theme fell flat. Sorry, that was just bubbling up. I had to let it out to avoid a sharp pang. That wouldn've been no minor twinge, but a major pain! Yes, I'm going to my room now.
Well, I did better on this Friday toughie than I usually do, and got it with only two cheats. It helped that I knew GONERIL (though not TAMORA) and BOLERO. So all in all, a good way to end the week--many thanks, Bruce. And always enjoy your expo, Lemonade.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Husker Gary,
These scammers are worse than salespeople. One I talked to a little wanted to take over my computer to fix something. I hung up. I have gotten this 2 or 3 times since then.
Another scam is people saying you have to call them because the IRS is going to do something awful to you. The bad news from the IRS is always through the mail. I looked that number up on Google to see it was a scam.
VS
My 1st thought looking at the grid was "Geese."
Then trying to do the puzzle, I thought it must be something more difficult & expressive. Swans?
It was not until I uncovered "notes" that I realized I was looking at them backwards...
I cannot say I finished the puzzle, because there was a lot of Mr. Google reciting Shakespeare involved... But I did complete it!
Learning moment: Bicameral (& unicameral) ( & even tricameral.)
(Trying to find funny pics to go with them was my worst hump day ever...)
Notes: (no pun intended...)
That infamous Snarf corner was completely empty when I penned "rats" for 9D "darn it."
So when it finally started to fill in I had to change it. Ever try to find a 5 letter word that starts with SR?
33A Romantic activity, I had -U-sing... All I could think was "cursing?"
It took changing it to "cussing" to finally make that light bulb go on...
Anon @ 1:18 & Anon @ 2:07, You guys need to relax, do you know how many beers it took me to finally realize that in their very beginnings, all words are "made up..."
Cont...
desper-otto, *groan*! That made me quaver. And even if I quavered only half as much, it would still be a semiquaver.
Goneril is sure an, um, ugly name.
Scat, scammers!
Ya see, Otto, that's the beauty of our system (when it works). We can agree to disagree, but when action need be taken, we have elections.
That said, I still prefer my choice, you Philistine! :-)
(Side bar: In the kitchen, we've got pair of Polk Audio bookshelf speakers. For the size, I've never heard anything that even comes close. They are amazing. But then I also have a larger pair of Polks that are mediocre at best. Entirely whelming. But for the primaries, I really, really like the Klipschs.)
Lemonade714 & Lucina, that typo brought back wonderful memories. Than You...
Avg Joe@1:14, I never heard of Klipsch. A quick Google & another V8 can to the head... (Ouch!)
They say in life that your voice lowers with age, not so with other stuff...
but music does have its health benefits...
A post from the past...
Uh, this may be a little DF, The muse of music in action...
Hmm, I may have to stop posting...
I could go on all night, but I hit that little red X by mistake & had to recreate all this crap... Musicians, just follow this tutorial...
CED,I believe that "made up" in this sense means spurious, illegitimate. The word was made up for the convenience of the constructor. I object to closed minded nits. E.g.. I know the meaning of this word and it cannot have another meaning. I have not ever heard it used so it must be either illegitimate, obscure or regional.
Many quite common usages are disparaged here. Why not look it up and broaden your vocabulary and knowledge?
Anon@4:32
I believe you have not drunk enough beer yet...
Speaking of nits,
I take exception with 58A, little garden party = Gnome
Since when does one Gnome constitute a party?
CED the gnome is a person like the party of the first part.
Greetings!
Great puzzle and write-up, Bruce and Lemon!
Needed perps as mentioned above. (Knew GENERAL.)
Tried to blog late last night, but, alas, twas too early!
No cheats!
Cheers!
Ah, thanks Lemon, but Lawyerese is not very helpful.
(& be careful., these Anons seem a bit testy...)
P.S. Create a word to describe this...
Uslurped?
For CED at 6:54 pm, sorry only have phrases.
A Bichon shame!
or
Sample taken for Lab testing.
Always remember that you're unique; just like everyone else.
Hi, Jayce!
Late with my response because I've been catching up on my recordings. So many and so little time!
I do like my new cell phone though am still learning everything about it. Since I am nowhere near ready for a smart phone or an i-phone, I upgraded from a very old flip phone to a newer, better flip phone which can support texting, sending photos, etc. My previous one was so old that my data could not be transferred so I've had to input it all manually. It's a revere 3.
CED:
I'm so glad you were inspired by my typo.
BillG:
Yes, the 90s are still with us and will remain here through October I'm afraid.
Lucina - I've got to ask, why not a smart phone like an iThing or a 'droid? I went kicking & screaming from my Treo to an iPhone, but I love it now.
CED - I got nuthin' cept NATURALISTselectionist for your LAB caption.
Yes, 'bro ply'd me w/ beer, but he's out 1st (young'un). I'm sippin' a Chainbreaker White IPA which is very delicious. He know's his beer.
Cheers, -T
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