Theme: Feathered Friends. Five people's names who sound like birds replace the birds themselves in the noun. Hilarity ensues.
17A. Ditty from 1970s-'80s NFL wide receiver Lynn? : SWANN SONG. Pittsburgh Steelers Hall-of-Famer.
25A. Unwinding places for actor Russell? : CROWE BARS. The blog "Waiter Rant" revealed that Mr. Crowe, when eating out, doesn't behave like a spoiled brat and tips well. Good to know.
38A. Tough spot for actor Walter? : PIDGEON HOLE. Apparently this is how an urban pigeon adapts to apartment living. Their country cousins may have more space.
49A. Easter adornment made by politician Dan? : QUAYLE EGG. Food! Three of these make a very small omelet.
61A. Facial feature of actor Ethan? : HAWKE EYES. Are they deep and dreamy? I have no idea.
Spot the odd one out in the theme entries - a swan has a song (in legend), a pigeon may perch in a hole, roughly 50% of the adult quail population has the capacity to lay eggs and a hawk certainly has eyes, apparently sharp ones. But a crow? I don't believe a crow has ever had bars. There's some other odd-ones-out too - CROWBAR is one word, the others are two, and QUAYLE needs a letter-change from the bird, the others don't. It feels inconsistent to me.
I confess to being a little underwhelmed with this one - you could play "Word Association" and get three or four of the names without thinking: Actor Russell? CROWE! Actor Ethan? HAWKE! Politico Dan? QUAYLE! You get the idea.
So let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Lead-ins to some online games : ADS. I don't play computer games, but I can't see the producers missing the opportunity to push some product before you get the chance to play.
4. Magnetic induction unit : TESLA. I didn't know this usage, but there's been enough of Nikola round recently that it wasn't a problem.
9. Nobelist Curie : MARIE. Husband Pierre also - he didn't fit. She beat him 2-1 in the Nobel Prize throwdown.
14. Petal plucker's word : NOT. Unloved, so sad.
15. Use at the table : EAT ON. Odd - I eat OFF plates and silverware, not on them.
16. Dunderhead : IDIOT
19. Replicate : CLONE
20. Fighting against : ANTI
21. Rarely seen item on casual Friday : TIE
22. Enjoy Whistler : SKI. Nice clue for this little word. Another mention of the artist at 58A.
23. Rule : REIGN
30. Sagittarius, e.g. : ARCHER
32. Sign of hope : RAY
33. See 8-Down : LEE.
34. Mass __ : TRANSIT. Had to wait for a few crosses before I could fill in this one.
37. Wander : ROVE
40. Computer menu heading : FILE
42. Hockey positions : WINGERS. Soccer too. Rugby also. Sports a-plenty.
43. Big club in Atlantic City? : ACE. Four suits to choose from. How about the Ace of Spades? [Rated BG13 (Blog Guidance) for Heavy Metal Content]
44. Neurologist's printout, briefly : E.E.G.
45. Find out about : DETECT
53. Gretzky, during most of the '80s : OILER. Edmonton hockey eh? The Great One.
54. Foreign __ : AID
55. __ Cruces : LAS. Wikipedia says this places is also known as "The City of The Crosses" which is kinda stating the obvious considering "Las Cruces" means "The Crosses".
57. Not : NARY
58. Emulate Whistler : PAINT. Here's his famous and pensive-looking mother. Maybe she's wondering when he's going to stop messing around with oils and look for a proper job.
63. Bike wheel feature : SPOKE
64. "Little Miss Sunshine" Oscar winner : ARKIN. Las Cruces got me most of the way here.
65. Rebellious Turner : NAT
66. Structural support : TRUSS
67. Kids around : JESTS
68. Some municipal trains : ELS
Down:
1. "Broken Arrow" co-star : ANSARA. No idea, so thank you, perps. The late actor Michael.
2. Wet blanket : DOWNER
3. Radio problem : STATIC. I wanted "Running low on Ne-Hi" first.
4. Notable Downing Street number : TEN. The British Prime Minister's residence. You used to be able to walk right up to the door and get your picture taken with the jolly policeman (unarmed, naturally) guarding the place. Times have changed.
5. "__ of Eden" : EAST. I came late to reading Steinbeck and this was my first. I couldn't believe how fresh it seemed.
6. Stiff-upper-lip type : STOIC
7. Hardly a social butterfly : LONER
8. With 33-Across, "Life of Pi" director : ANG. This name has finally sunk into my pea-brain. Nailed it!
9. Pluto's master : MICKEY
10. Improvise in a sketch : AD LIB
11. 2014 World Cup city : RIO. I timed my visit imperfectly last time down there - I arrived exactly a week after the final.
12. Charged particle : ION
13. Printemps follower : ÉTÉ. Summer follows Spring in France, just like here. I ate one of the most memorable meals of my life at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Raymond Blanc's Michelin-starred restaurant in .... England, oddly enough.
18. Lingerie purchase : NIGHTIE
22. Bundled up : SWATHED
24. Pi Day celebrant, stereotypically : NERD. March 14th.. It doesn't works in in the UK when you have the day before the month. This year was awesome - add the year and a specific time in the morning, and you got:
26. Circular gasket : O-RING. Infamously the culprit of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
27. Soothing succulent : ALOE
28. Accelerate, with "up" : REV
29. Understand : SEE
31. Common allergen : RAGWEED. I tried RAGWORT first and needed a little unpicking in that area.
35. Mont Blanc covering : NEIGE. Not quite as much neige en été, plenty more en hiver. Thankfully Wiki refrains from informing us that "this alpine feature, also called Mount White ..."
36. Emilio Estevez, to Martin Sheen : SON
37. "Goosebumps" series author : R.L.STINE. More crosses- I've seen this name before, even commented on it in the blog and still couldn't remember it.
38. Court answer : PLEA
39. Twistable treat : OREO
40. Website help sect. : F.A.Q. Frequently Asked Questions. C.C. maintains the "Olio" section (link at the right of the blog) which comprises our FAQ collection.
41. Post-op area : ICU
44. Privileged groups : ELITES
46. Stand-up comic Boosler : ELAYNE. If you say so.
47. Breakfast choice : CEREAL. "Choice" is a stretch here. John Pinette agrees.
48. No-tell motel meetings : TRYSTS
50. Pulls hard : YANKS
51. Intimidating look : GLARE
52. Rubbernecks : GAWKS
56. Monty Python segment : SKIT
58. Vancouver setting: Abbr. : P.S.T. My side of the country, or it will be when I get back there in about four hours time. According the flight tracker, I'm somewhere north of Lake Erie close to the Canadian border at the moment, blogging happily with power and WiFi.
59. 30-day mo. : APR
60. Note from one who's short : IOU Nice cluing again for a short fill.
61. "The __": Uris novel : HAJ
62. "No, No, Nanette" foursome : ENS. Waving at the neighboring ELS. The golfer and the Navy get a cluing rest today. I like this one!
Some nice fill and cluing cheered me up after my "meh" theme-reaction, so fair play to David.
On a crossword note, if you've ever done a puzzle in an in-flight magazine, you'll realize what a quite fantastic job the constructors and editors of the NYT and LAT do (I'm not counting myself in that company). The quality is generally really shabby. The one I did in the United magazine yesterday had at least 10 entries that Rich would have thrown out without a pause. A few months ago I did one where the constructor had obviously reworked a section but forgot to update the clues to match the new answers - that was a challenge!
That's it from me!
Steve
17A. Ditty from 1970s-'80s NFL wide receiver Lynn? : SWANN SONG. Pittsburgh Steelers Hall-of-Famer.
25A. Unwinding places for actor Russell? : CROWE BARS. The blog "Waiter Rant" revealed that Mr. Crowe, when eating out, doesn't behave like a spoiled brat and tips well. Good to know.
38A. Tough spot for actor Walter? : PIDGEON HOLE. Apparently this is how an urban pigeon adapts to apartment living. Their country cousins may have more space.
49A. Easter adornment made by politician Dan? : QUAYLE EGG. Food! Three of these make a very small omelet.
61A. Facial feature of actor Ethan? : HAWKE EYES. Are they deep and dreamy? I have no idea.
Spot the odd one out in the theme entries - a swan has a song (in legend), a pigeon may perch in a hole, roughly 50% of the adult quail population has the capacity to lay eggs and a hawk certainly has eyes, apparently sharp ones. But a crow? I don't believe a crow has ever had bars. There's some other odd-ones-out too - CROWBAR is one word, the others are two, and QUAYLE needs a letter-change from the bird, the others don't. It feels inconsistent to me.
I confess to being a little underwhelmed with this one - you could play "Word Association" and get three or four of the names without thinking: Actor Russell? CROWE! Actor Ethan? HAWKE! Politico Dan? QUAYLE! You get the idea.
So let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Lead-ins to some online games : ADS. I don't play computer games, but I can't see the producers missing the opportunity to push some product before you get the chance to play.
4. Magnetic induction unit : TESLA. I didn't know this usage, but there's been enough of Nikola round recently that it wasn't a problem.
9. Nobelist Curie : MARIE. Husband Pierre also - he didn't fit. She beat him 2-1 in the Nobel Prize throwdown.
14. Petal plucker's word : NOT. Unloved, so sad.
15. Use at the table : EAT ON. Odd - I eat OFF plates and silverware, not on them.
16. Dunderhead : IDIOT
19. Replicate : CLONE
20. Fighting against : ANTI
21. Rarely seen item on casual Friday : TIE
22. Enjoy Whistler : SKI. Nice clue for this little word. Another mention of the artist at 58A.
23. Rule : REIGN
30. Sagittarius, e.g. : ARCHER
32. Sign of hope : RAY
33. See 8-Down : LEE.
34. Mass __ : TRANSIT. Had to wait for a few crosses before I could fill in this one.
37. Wander : ROVE
40. Computer menu heading : FILE
42. Hockey positions : WINGERS. Soccer too. Rugby also. Sports a-plenty.
43. Big club in Atlantic City? : ACE. Four suits to choose from. How about the Ace of Spades? [Rated BG13 (Blog Guidance) for Heavy Metal Content]
44. Neurologist's printout, briefly : E.E.G.
45. Find out about : DETECT
53. Gretzky, during most of the '80s : OILER. Edmonton hockey eh? The Great One.
54. Foreign __ : AID
55. __ Cruces : LAS. Wikipedia says this places is also known as "The City of The Crosses" which is kinda stating the obvious considering "Las Cruces" means "The Crosses".
57. Not : NARY
58. Emulate Whistler : PAINT. Here's his famous and pensive-looking mother. Maybe she's wondering when he's going to stop messing around with oils and look for a proper job.
63. Bike wheel feature : SPOKE
64. "Little Miss Sunshine" Oscar winner : ARKIN. Las Cruces got me most of the way here.
65. Rebellious Turner : NAT
66. Structural support : TRUSS
67. Kids around : JESTS
68. Some municipal trains : ELS
Down:
1. "Broken Arrow" co-star : ANSARA. No idea, so thank you, perps. The late actor Michael.
2. Wet blanket : DOWNER
3. Radio problem : STATIC. I wanted "Running low on Ne-Hi" first.
4. Notable Downing Street number : TEN. The British Prime Minister's residence. You used to be able to walk right up to the door and get your picture taken with the jolly policeman (unarmed, naturally) guarding the place. Times have changed.
5. "__ of Eden" : EAST. I came late to reading Steinbeck and this was my first. I couldn't believe how fresh it seemed.
6. Stiff-upper-lip type : STOIC
7. Hardly a social butterfly : LONER
8. With 33-Across, "Life of Pi" director : ANG. This name has finally sunk into my pea-brain. Nailed it!
9. Pluto's master : MICKEY
10. Improvise in a sketch : AD LIB
11. 2014 World Cup city : RIO. I timed my visit imperfectly last time down there - I arrived exactly a week after the final.
12. Charged particle : ION
13. Printemps follower : ÉTÉ. Summer follows Spring in France, just like here. I ate one of the most memorable meals of my life at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Raymond Blanc's Michelin-starred restaurant in .... England, oddly enough.
18. Lingerie purchase : NIGHTIE
22. Bundled up : SWATHED
24. Pi Day celebrant, stereotypically : NERD. March 14th.. It doesn't works in in the UK when you have the day before the month. This year was awesome - add the year and a specific time in the morning, and you got:
26. Circular gasket : O-RING. Infamously the culprit of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
27. Soothing succulent : ALOE
28. Accelerate, with "up" : REV
29. Understand : SEE
31. Common allergen : RAGWEED. I tried RAGWORT first and needed a little unpicking in that area.
35. Mont Blanc covering : NEIGE. Not quite as much neige en été, plenty more en hiver. Thankfully Wiki refrains from informing us that "this alpine feature, also called Mount White ..."
36. Emilio Estevez, to Martin Sheen : SON
37. "Goosebumps" series author : R.L.STINE. More crosses- I've seen this name before, even commented on it in the blog and still couldn't remember it.
38. Court answer : PLEA
39. Twistable treat : OREO
40. Website help sect. : F.A.Q. Frequently Asked Questions. C.C. maintains the "Olio" section (link at the right of the blog) which comprises our FAQ collection.
41. Post-op area : ICU
44. Privileged groups : ELITES
46. Stand-up comic Boosler : ELAYNE. If you say so.
47. Breakfast choice : CEREAL. "Choice" is a stretch here. John Pinette agrees.
48. No-tell motel meetings : TRYSTS
50. Pulls hard : YANKS
51. Intimidating look : GLARE
52. Rubbernecks : GAWKS
56. Monty Python segment : SKIT
58. Vancouver setting: Abbr. : P.S.T. My side of the country, or it will be when I get back there in about four hours time. According the flight tracker, I'm somewhere north of Lake Erie close to the Canadian border at the moment, blogging happily with power and WiFi.
59. 30-day mo. : APR
60. Note from one who's short : IOU Nice cluing again for a short fill.
61. "The __": Uris novel : HAJ
62. "No, No, Nanette" foursome : ENS. Waving at the neighboring ELS. The golfer and the Navy get a cluing rest today. I like this one!
Some nice fill and cluing cheered me up after my "meh" theme-reaction, so fair play to David.
On a crossword note, if you've ever done a puzzle in an in-flight magazine, you'll realize what a quite fantastic job the constructors and editors of the NYT and LAT do (I'm not counting myself in that company). The quality is generally really shabby. The one I did in the United magazine yesterday had at least 10 entries that Rich would have thrown out without a pause. A few months ago I did one where the constructor had obviously reworked a section but forgot to update the clues to match the new answers - that was a challenge!
That's it from me!
Steve
55 comments:
Greetings!
Swell puzzle, David! Cool expo, Steve!
Really liked this one--went very fast. ANSARA was a gimme.
Do not get SKI. Help!
Went to a luncheon for Emeritus profs from Science and Math today. Was great.
However, the Dean was not there as he had acquired food poisoning from Chipotles. (One of two organic
food purveyors around. Bummer.)
Cheers to all!
Morning, all!
I got all the puns, but I'm ashamed to admit I didn't realize they were all bird-related until I got here. Still, fun to do.
Thankfully, I knew ANSARA from past puzzles (although my first thought was the more modern "Broken Arrow" starring John Travolta and Christian Slater). Only other minor pothole was the crossing of NIEGE and WINGER. In Spanish, it's NIEVE, but I had no idea that it was NIEGE in French. I also was unfamiliar with a WINGER. But WINGER seemed to make more sense than anything else, so I went with it.
This seemed easy for Thursday as ANSARA and ELAYNE BOOSLER were well known. Michael was both married to Barbara Eden and a Star Trek Villain. Elayne lived with Andy Kaufman and was friends with Jay Leno.
I agree with some of Steve's theme comments but I had fun. David Poole is a pro. Thanks guys
Good morning!
Zipped through this one with NARY a write-over. Felt like a Tuesday.
I get STATIC at home, and the radio's not even on.
Michael ANSARA was memorable in that role. He was always going into or out of his wickiup. Ben would have called it a hogan. John Lupton played the agent on the reservation. (Do you have a reservation? Yes, but I've decided to eat here, anyway.)
So Whistler is also the name of a ski resort. Learning moment.
Steve, besides QUAYLE, PIDGEON also involves a letter change. Reminiscent of my high school team mascot -- the mighty Pigeons! Hah! Walter also appeared yesterday in that trailer for Forbidden Planet.
Thanks, David and Steve.
Good Morning, Steve and friends. I had fun with this puzzle. ADS, however was my final fill. I feared when I couldn't fill in 1-Across that I would have trouble, but everything else was a speed run. There were even clues that I never read, because the perps had filled them in.
WEES regarding the Whistler SKI resort.
Many Nobel Prizes were awarded to the Curie family. Marie Curie (1867 ~ 1934) was the recipient of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which she shared with her husband, Pierre (1859 ~ 1906). Their daughter Irène (1897 ~ 1956) was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
I initially tried Roam before ROVE for Wander.
Note From Woe Who's Short = IOU was my favorite clue. Too bad it couldn't cross with ICU.
QOD: Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. ~ Timothy Leary (Oct. 22, 1920 ~ May 31, 1996)
Michael was both married to Barbara Eden and a Star Trek Villain
Wow, I had no idea that he was married to a Star Trek villain! ^_^
Seriously, though, I was going to mention that, while I never saw "Broken Arrow", I knew Michael Ansara from an episode of classic "Outer Limits" and his role as Kang the Klingon on the original "Star Trek". Looking at his profile at IMDB, I never realized just how busy an actor he actually was!
Marie Curie was also the recipient on the 1911 Nobel Prize for Physics.
Barry G,
It's NEIGE--I guessed it wasn't a typo since you did it twice, so probably influenced by the letter sequence in the Spanish NIEVE you quoted.
I actually got this all out despite a few unknowns, including ANSARA, which fortunately I really didn't notice since it perped itself out.The SE corner was a different story. I didn't know NAT Turner, RL STINE, OILER or ELAYNE, but after guessing NARY as the only possible "not" answer with four letters, the rest of that area sort of fell into place.
My life seems to be getting busier lately, accounting for my absence earlier this week. I have begun to come here only when I need to check on uncertainties. Hope all is well with everyone here!
Hello, friends!
WEES. Except for NEIGE this seemed unusually easy for a Thursday but enjoyable none the less. ANSARA was totally unfamiliar to me and I have actually been to Whistler in Canada. It's a lovely resort area.
I liked the avian theme even if a little inconsistent. And Goosebumps books flew off the shelf in my fourth grade class so RLSTINE was a given.
I loved Little Miss Sunshine! Alan ARKIN definitely earned his Oscar.
Thank you David Poole and Steve. You both entertained today.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Good morning all,
Fast solve. Didn't notice the avian relationship.
NARY an issue, except:
- Spent a minute trying to work around SLATER at 1D. That was an action packed movie, wih Slater the white hat and Travolta playing a psycho heavy. Then realized 17A would be SWANN something, probably SONG, and it was.
- I spelled ELAINE normally after drudging up her name. Went from Irene to Ilene to Elaine. HAWKEYES changed it to Y.
- First thought at Mont Blanc covering was,"Oh no, I hope it's not the French word for snow or ice." Then I hoped it was some covering for a Mont Blanc pen, such as gold. Didn't matter, it filled, as Tinbeni would say, "with ESP."
- Never saw the movie with ARKIN. Thought of Shirley Temple with Little Miss Sunshine. As a child actress, she had a lot of movies where she Little or Miss something, or both. And Sunshine would certainly describe her in most of those movies.
- RLSTINE also perped in, even though we've had the Goosebumps author clue before.
- Read rubbernecker and the auto-fill that occurs between my brain and fingers entered GAper for me. Then changed it to GApes with JEST. Finally changed it to GAWKS with HAWKEYES becoming apparent.
Thank you David and Steve.
I was in charge of bussing tables and making the popcorn at Ten Downing Street, a restaurant in nearby West Dundee, IL, when I was 15 and spending the summer with my older brother and his wife. The servers brought a bowl of popcorn to the tables after the hostess led the patrons to their seats. It was a big popcorn machine, like you see at the movies. Lost my job there the second time I burnt the popcorn so bad that some people had to leave the restaurant. That's the memory that flashes through my mind when I hear or see Ten Downing Street, even though I later went to the one in London. Getting axed from my first job was traumatic.
Steve, yep. One should appreciate the quality of the puzzles and editing that's done here. I do, especially after solving puzzles at other venues where it sometimes seems there has been little to no editing. Like my posts.
Thanks David and Steve for a good morning! I must have been on the right wave length because it was easier than usual.
I knew Ansara...on of my favorites... but had no idea what SKI had to do with Whistler until I got here. I dredged up R. L. STINE from the depth of my trivia.
I O U was the best!
....oops! That's ONE of my favorites. What were we saying about editing?
Thanks to Dave for the fun puzzle and Steve for the write up.
I enjoyed all the science and math references: TESLA, MARIE, Life of Pi, ION and Pi Day.
I had read the R.L. Stine Goosebumps books along with my sons. Only needed the RL to recall it. One of his books had a main character that was a ghost but didn't realize it, as was the case in The Sixth Sense. Goosebumps were probably the biggest selling Scholastic Books until the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling came along.
QUAIL EGGS are used a great deal in biological and medical research because they are smaller and the avian embryonic heart is very similar to the human one. Here is a quail embryo with a one tube heart LASER_AIMED_AT_HEART_TUBE
VS
Good catch Barry, language is such fun.
If you like R L Stine's books (my sons did) the MOVIE is now playing. One of their froends from high school worked on the film which was filmed near Atlanta.
I had so much difficulty yesterday, I wondered if I should even tackle today's puzzle. Surprise! I solved it. I admit I turned on red letter help before starting (means you know immediately if a letter/word is correct) but I never got a red square.
I'm feeling better about crosswords again.
Have a great day,
Montana
Good Morning:
I, too, thought this was an easier than usual Thursday offering. I, too, missed the bird connection until the write-up. Overall, a smooth finish.
Lucina, I agree with you on Little Miss Sunshine and Alan Arkin; he was great in Argo, as well. Belated congratulations to your daughter.
Thanks to David and Steve for an enjoyable exercise.
Have a great day.
Very easy Thursday complimented by Steve’s always enlightening write-up
Musings
-Theme was obvious too although CROW’S NEST had to go away
-I did pigeonhole a man Tuesday who belied his appearance and proved to be a great golf companion
-YouTube ADS are annoying but necessary as someone has to foot the bill
-Marti would appreciate mentioning Whistler SKI Resort on a Thursday
-Kids enjoyed this light RAY refraction in the lab
-I have given my old FILES to about 10 science teachers as per their request
-My SPOKES ate up a lot of what would now be expensive cards
-A truckload of pre-fab TRUSSES heading for a home site
-I easily filled in the Lebanese-born actor Michael ANSARA
-The STOICism of this resident of Number TEN carried his country through horrible times
-ETE? Oui! NEIGE? Non!
-Guilt or innocence sometimes has little influence on a PLEA
-A local HS BB coach just resigned because of his TRYSTS
-This show was built on AD LIBS in SKITS
Good morning,
Thanks David and Steve. I enjoyed the puzzle and the write up equally.I had a slow start having no clue of what a magnetic induction unit was, but the perps easily provided tesla. Ansara was also an unknown, but perps filled that too. Amazingly I got the bird theme right away, but due to misspelling RL Stine, I had a few write overs. Neige was also unknown,but David made this so doable for a Thursday.
You are missing out if you haven't done the Mickey Mouse dance. JK
Have a lovely day. I am awaiting my husband to come out of minor surgery this morning...nothing life threatening, but there is also a worry when they put you out.
Good morning everyone.
Elegant puzzle today from David. Thanks. Many more obscure clues but all fair. Favorite fill was PIDGEON HOLE. Nice to see NEIGE. Not used so much in cw's.
TEN - We have stood at the door at 10 Downing St. Steve says we can't do that anymore. Sigh.
EAST - When we lived in Eden, NY, there was a hamlet east of us called East Eden. Don't know if they felt they were EAST of Eden.
ARKIN - Liked him in "The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming". He was Theodore Bikel's XO on the Russian sub. He was good in Argo, too.
Have a great day.
Hi gang -
I love homophone themes. If you consider the names as homophones, then the apparent inconsistencies pretty much evaporate. Note that the names are all spelt differently from their respective avian counterparts.
Sadly, missed that they were all Byrds. So I got stumped by Ethan. Could not dredge up a last name that made sense with EYES, except DARKE - hey, might have been. Never saw Little Miss Sunshine, and couldn't suss ARKIN - who is a genuinely great actor.
So - a sad DNF for me on a puzzle that should have been doable.
High quality puzzle overall - though i give NEIGE a big thumbs down.
Yes, LAT and NYT puzzles are the best. Newsdays are also quite good. For further confirmation, try the commuter puzzle. Generally blah and lame.
The shutttle O-rings failed because it was a cold day in FLA, and they became stiff and brittle, and therefore did not maintain a seal against relative motion. Tragedy due to a minute detail.
Cubs owned the Mets during the regular season. Anything can happen in a short series. Still pulling for the Jays.
50 D could have been clued as this double definition: "Pulls hard for the Bronx Bombers."
Cool regards!
JzB
Liked the puzzle and the theme. Thanks, David, for a smooth but not too easy puzzle.
Nice write-up, Steve. Thanks for the info on the English PM's residence! Nice to get info on other countries.
I, too, agree, on the LAT and NYT having higher standards than other sites. Some of those are simply lame!
I loved this puzzle--perfect for a Thursday, many thanks, David! But I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't get the BIRDS until Steve's write-up.
It was a thrill to get ANSARA right away, since I haven't thought about "Broken Arrow," one of my favorite shows when I was a kid, in decades and decades.
Was totally flummoxed by Whistler as SKI--thanks for explaining it, Desper-otto.
Nice to see you check in, Kazie, and hope your husband is well, JD.
Have a great day, everybody!
Hi Y'all! One minute faster than yesterday's solve! Fun theme was "for the birds". Great one, David. Thanks, Steve, always witty.
So many names today! I counted 15 proper names in this baby which didn't all fly into my mind at once, but all perped out. Must have been a bugger to construct. Didn't know ANSARA or ELAYNE or SWANN.
Yup, STOIC must be the word of the month. It's in there again.
Printemps & NEIGE were new Frawnch words to add to my vocabulary. I hope.
I thought "Use OF the table" would have fit EAT ON better than "at".
AnonT: (From last night) Thank your brother for his military service for us. Bless him and all who serve. I was proud of my AF son who retired in Jan. after flying missions over Afghanistan. Glad to have him out with all the things happening recently.
JD:
Prayers going your way for you DH and hoping it is truly minor.
As for NIEGE, I didn't even think about nieve as I don't know French pronunciations. Is it nee-edg-eh? Then it would correspond to nee-eh-veh.
If you haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine, try it on Netflix. You are in for a treat.
I had a tough time with this one, had to put it down & come back later.
The crossing of 46D Elayne & 65A Nat was a major Natick. (WAG'd successfully)
35D Neige? (Hmm,makes me want to look up how you say Crap in French...)
It made me want to change EEG to EEC, but why would some ones Neice want to cover Mount Blanc?
(Actually typing niece horizontally makes it make more sense)
(typing neige horizontally is still crap to me...)
(Sorry, but it is an English puzzle you know...)
(Oh Crap! Some Canadian Anon is probably going to be offended...)
Thanks Steve for John Pinette!
(Blogging @ 30,000 feet?Impressive!)
Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack. It was 4A that messed me up.
I was sure it was Henry "Magnetic Inductance" was a learning moment.
(But isn't all inductance magnetic?)
Michael Ansara in Broken Arrow made me want to be an Indian when I was a kid...
The many faces of Michael Ansara:
Outer Limits
Star Trek Original series...
why always the back hat?
Whoa!
OK, that's better...
+TTP, that was brave to post your 1st job experience. I didn't screw up too bad on my 1st,
but I have plenty of stories from later jobs... (Hmm, which to pick...)
Anywho, lets make TTP feel better & post some of our 1st Job learning moments...
Highly enjoyable puzzle by David Poole. As JAZZ pointed out, the spelling of the birds being spelled differently than the actual bird made the puzzle just that more edgy. Thanks also to Steve for his time and analysis.
Liked the double mention of WHISTLER with two totally different meanings. Favorites were note from one who's short IOU, and big club in Atlantic City ACE.
NEIGE is a new one on me, crosses to the rescue.
A good film I recently saw with Ethan HAWKE, Uma Thurman and Jude Law is Gattaca, released in '97. Don't know I missed it for 18 years! Uma is one of my favorites.
This week has been fun with fairly easy puzzles. I'm feeling proud of myself. I'm sure it ends tomorrow or Saturday. Thanks to the constructors and bloggers for your work.
Welcome back PK and Montana!
coneyro, stop in when you can.
Regarding the discussion about commas, someone posted this on Facebook today:
Link text
It's sunny and wrtm today. Probably the last time for a while. At least the high humidity is gone!
Pat
What was that about editing? warm, not wrtm!
Pat
A speed run today. Like PK, faster today than yesterday. Liked the homophone theme despite the inconsistency which Steve mentioned. What Navy Davy said about favorites.
Lucina, NEIGE is pronounced as one syllable, "nehzh", with the "zh" indicating the sound of z in "azure". And CED, one translation of "crap" to French is "merde", which rhymes with "beard". Here endeth the lesson.
I detected a Canadian slant to the puzzle today and sure enough, David Poole is a Canadian constructor according to past blog notes. Whistler is as well known to Canadians as Aspen is to Americans.
Gretzky as an OILER is a Canadian icon, and WINGERs are hockey favourites.
As a bilingual nation, we recognize lots of French words from our schooldays (and from the cereal boxes) even if we cannot speak it fluently.NEIGE is pronounced with a "soft e" as in "nest" and a soft, gliding "g" - that sounds somewhat like "zsh." In other words, nezzsh.
Oh I see Howard beat me to it. But don't use the Canadian eh sound for the e.
CED I laughed at your Anonymous Canadian reference.
Blue Jays have lived to see another day. Hope springs eternal!
Marie Curie's daughter, Irene, won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1935. Her daughter, Helene, is currently a French nuclear physicist.
Hello Puzzlers -
A relative speed run today. The theme jumped right out and said "Hiya!" and that's all it took.
Germany swept under our keel in the wee hours. Now we're in the Netherlands, and today was my first look at a real 1738 windmill. Fascinating! Tomorrow it's Amsterdam, and we have to bid farewell to our new friends. Nothing like a shared adventure for inducing the Foxhole Syndrome!
Very late doing the puzzle today and did it ever start out wrong. Filled SLATER for ANSARA(complete unknown); too much Frawnch, not knowing 'Printemps' or NEIGE but filled that and ETE by perps. 'Sagittarius'- all I knew was it was in the zodiac and ARCHER was perps as were ARKIN and R. L. STINE. And I'm with Barron on WINGERS as there is no hockey in the S.E.C.and along with Hatoolah, ADS was my last fill.
My first thought on 'Wet blanket' was DRIP by I eventually worked DOWNER into the solution. But the theme answer were easy and I got the bird connection after SWANN and CROWE. So I managed to complete it faster than I could read the comments and put in my two cents.
But Friday is coming.
PIGEONs- definition = flying rats.
Dudley, Amsterdam is awesome!
My 1st impression was bikes at the train station...
(One guy ran out of room & chained his bike to the outside of the elevated walkway!)
My 2nd revelation was the outdoor urinals
(I thought it was a phone booth...)
You must visit Anne Franks house!
You must visit every possible museum!
You must... (Aw, forget it! no one has enough time to see all Amsterdam has to offer.)
HowardW, Pls do not endeth the lesson yet!
I always wanted to open a restaurant called "The Greasy Spoon." (But in French!)
but I still can't get it to sound right...
Swann Song?
Crowe Bar?
Pidgeon Hole?
Quayle Egg? (Sorry, no political jokes allowed...)
(Can I say Potatoe?)
Believe me, you don't want to see the hawkeye pics I rejected...
Uh, HowardW,
Pls don't get me wrong,
I really was sincere with a pleasant sounding French Greasy Spoon.
(I just thought it would be a great name for a restaurant.)
But this "merde", which rhymes with "beard" has me intrigued...
Is there a French word that sounds like "murder" that I could use
to describe a puzzle that really busted my chops?
ROBIN Hood would be proud. As would Atticus FINCH from To Kill a MOCKINGBIRD. Fun puzzle! Easier than I anticipated, although if I didn't know some French it would have been harder. Wanted Hawke NOSE before EYES. Best wishes to you all.
Hi all!
Thanks Dave! Great puzzle, eh? (I'm assuming C, Eh did his research :-)). Thanks Steve for the witty writeup for us YANKS (Canadians, remember, you're mad a CED).
W/o's, there were many. "_ of Eden": Oh, EAST of Eden, and then wrote in Eden. I DETECT'd it wasn't Learns. And SWATHED, not SWAddel(?)
Otherwise, I only needed 1 Google for RL STINE to finally Learn, err DETECT the SE. And I just read about the new Jack Black movie the other day /sigh, DNF.
ESPs - 1d, 35d.
WEES - IOU c/a was fav.
CANSECWest (conference where the best hackers from around the world go to present) is in Vancouver. One year after the conference DW & Eldest (at the time 2) met up w/ me and we went to Whistler. It was the 1st time Eldest saw snow and wanted a snow man. There was <1"; I got a 5" snowman out of it for her. She just remembers the Hot Coco at the Chateaux.
Pje - Shatner comma; LOL. Thanks for sharing.
Poker mini-theme?: ICU and raise you TEN. If I lose IOU.
Cheers, -T
There, but for the grace of the Oxford Comma go I!
It's genuinely amazing how this silly conversation has taken on a life of it's own. Me? I'm with Opus. I'm arguing for two spaces after a period. It's a cause we can all embrace......well just because.
Fun puzzle today. Add me to the list that didn't realize they were all birds. But I still enjoyed the punnishment. Thanks for the elucidation, Steve.
It's been a busy week. Worked all the puzzles, but have had little time to comment. There's cats, a car that been ruined by voles that I'm trying to sell, LW being off to the Eastern Shore and just work in general. Life is grand.
CED @ 1635
How about La Cuiller Graisseuse?
And then there's Boui-Boui.
Sadly no baseball tonight...
Doh, I forgot to thank everyone for the links to 1d; I had no clue. Hahtoolah, I didn't know the Curies were that prolific w/ Nobels - let's see if I can remember them all.
Did anyone else try to put Madam into 9a (I didn't, but that was my 1st thought) or am I the only IDIOT here?
AveJoe - Let 2-spaces REIGN! (space, space).
Steve - On airline magazine x-words odd c/a pairing; I thought it was just 'cuz I was used to LAT, NYT (and now WSJ) c/a's. So shout-out to Rich and Will!
One thing I love is finding one 1/2 filled in the seat pocket and you "fix" someone else's effort. Comparing your x-word self outside of the Cornerites makes you feel real smart! :-)
Also, yes, it was a good year to be a LONER NERD w/ both Pi-day and BTTF day. Did anyone see this USA Today headline? (did anyone actually see it at your hotel?; just curious if they really did it or simply sucking $5 from geeks like me (you know I'm buying one)).
My favorite ARCHER in the winter sky.
I thought there was going to be a bit of an ado today w/ NOT @14a and Not @57d... NARY a word.
TTP - I'll be back w/ how I almost got sac'd at DQ.
Cheers, -T
Archer? I was always under the impression that Orion was a club wielder. Did I get that wrong?
AnonT, regarding your hunter/archer in the night sky. Have you ever had a chance to explore it (and other stuff close by) through a small telescope? The Great Nebula in Orion is very cool. It's the area that looks like a pink star at the center of the three 'stars' below the left side of the belt. Then there's orange Betelgeuse at the upper left shoulder, a HUGE red giant star.
AvgJoe/Anon-T,
Yes, the image of Orion is in the eye of the beholder.
Club & shield wielder, or archer against against the bull.
Depends on how you look at it...
A little disappointed that no one took up my challenge of posting
1st time screw ups ALA TTP.(BTW, How did you burn the popcorn???)
So I guess I must reveal my 1st Job... (This could get long...)
I was delivering the Sunday paper to a 25 story apartment building
in Tudor City. Windsor Towers, 5 Tudor City Place.
The papers came bundled in steel wire,,,
They gave me a wire cutter to free them...
(I still have it. I use it to cut off the extra length of my guitar strings...)
The best part, was that at 5AM Sunday morning, they let me use the service elevator...
Now get this...
You close the outside door.
You close the inside mesh/screen door,
You turn the handle to the right, & up you go...
12 year old, Sunday morning, 5 Am, what could go wrong?
Well, Luckily,nothing did...
If a guy in a bad wig could run the dang thingie, a 12 year old had no problem...
That is not the reason for this post,
You see, I was living in Apt#1434. A studio, with my Dad.
He slept in the Murphy bed,& I slept on the couch.
But He would not let me set an alarm for 4 AM Sunday morning...
So I contrived this contraption that involved a standard clock face,
with 2 wires attached so they met at exactly 4AM,
which turned on a radio that played into headhones I was wearing while asleep!
I think I used low voltage DC for the clock connections...
But If i used 120 volt AC wall current,
It may explain a lot of my posts...
AveJoe - I thought he was shooting w/ his bow at a rabbit being chased by Cyrus (the dog-star's eye). The arch below the belt is the bow. However, I just did a bit of Googling and I find many links of The Hunter with a club. I think my gramps made that s**t up! //shattered
Bill G. Yes. So cool. Though, I always read Betelgeuse as Bel-da-G-wise. It wasn't until the movie that I learned better :-)
TTP - OK, it wasn't my first job (paper-boy, mower/snowshovel-boy, runner for a law firm, phlebotomist in the Reserves), but when DW & I moved to Ruston, LA for school (go Bulldogs!) I got a job at DQ. I think I was 19.
I got in trouble the 1st week making Peanut Buster Parfaits w/ too many peanuts (the book says 4 or 5 per layer).
I, however, made them the way I'd want one (see link above).
The 1st time I was chastised, I said "Oh, OK, thanks." I checked the book.
The 2nd time, I said "But then it's not bustin' w/ Peanuts." That didn't make the manager happy.
There was no third time. I got a job in Monroe, LA by the end of the week serving frozen daiquiris through a drive-thu window - ain't Louisiana great :-)
Cheers, -T
P.S.(T?): I later parlayed my Army lab-learning from the reserves to get a good ($9/hr!) job at a lab that tested oil-field waste water; it was just across the street from the EE bldg. I was there until graduation.
CED,
I can't help you with a French word which rhymes with "murder", but there's an English word which rhymes with "trucker" which might suffice.
Anon-T,
I love the USA Today page! Even to the headline at the bottom right, "Public more gullible than ever".
Avg Joe,
I was also under the impression that Orion holds a club overhead in his right hand, and a shield in his left. Apparently others imagine the "shield" stars to be an animal skin, or a bow.
Doh! I was thinking of this Cygnus (fictional blackhole/star), typed this Cyrus star while meaning while meaning this star (Sirius).
What was all that about proofing today? Cheers, -T
Steve: Outstanding write-up. Great job !!!
WOW !!! What a FUN Thursday puzzle. Though I did think the theme was "For-the-Birds."
Geez. it is kinda funny, when you are "Retired" and a consulting opportunity comes up, that is very interesting (and probably, very profitable ...) and you don't get to the daily routine of solving a LAT Crossword Puzzle until the Sun has gone down ...
Then you come here ... read the comments and realize you have nothing additional to say about your solving experience ... that hasn't already been said ...
OK, unless I missed it, there was NO BOOZE in the grid ...
You ALL know how I rate these puzzles ... LOL !!!
NEIGE was a learning moment ... thank you perps!
It was a beautiful sunset !!!
Cheers ...
CED, I did try to come up with a first-job screw up. I couldn't think of anything that seemed remotely entertaining, though I'm sure I made plenty of non-entertaining screw ups that I have suppressed.
And are you telling me that you can buy drive thru cocktails in Louisiana? No fooling?!!
Hollywood Squares question: Q. True or False, a pea can last as long as 5,000 years.
A. George Gobel: Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes.
oops ... forgot to mention ...
Anon-T @ 7:59
I'm in with you ... where the hell is the Baseball Game on TV ???
Geez, 300 Channels and I can't find it anywhere.
But at least there will be a game tomorrow night.
GO BLUE JAYS ...
PS That's because I want to see a game on Saturday Night ... LOL
Wow, you guys stay up late. Already 2 hours past my bed time.
CED, funny pics. And I can visualize that clock setup to complete the circuit. Electro-mechanical. Like a cam on a shaft closing the points on a relay. Playing with electricity can be fun.
Anon-T, your job at DQ and the one at the drive-thru were better than mine. I think we need some kind of truth in advertising law that would allow a person to get their money refunded if the food on the plate doesn't look like the picture. Prepackaged pre-portioned foods are probably the worst mental image I can come up with now. Or maybe some of the national burger chains.
It was ok that I was let go from that restaurant. I was only going to work the summer, and I made enough money before the second burning that I was able to buy my first Wilson T-2000 racket. And I had more time to practice and prep for the community tennis tournament. I got trounced in the first round. I still have that racket. And another T-2000 I bought a year or so later. Both would have to be regripped and restrung.
CED, there was a kettle with a lid at the top of the popcorn machine, and you would put the oil and kernels in it, and then turn on the heating element. After the kernels popped, you would turn off the element and rotate the kettle so the popped corn dropped out. You could bus a couple or few tables and take the dishes back to the kitchen before they popped. But if you didn't get back out there to turn off that element...
Bill G, 'used to could' in Texas too, but the laws changed.
OK, here's one some might enjoy, just because: Crazy Circles
A bit more Googling and I find both the Archer & the Clubber for Orion. Interesting, no mention of the cape over the shoulder (only on a moonless night could gramps point that out).
Tin - I'm w/ you for a Sat Game. While I want the Royals to win (that way the 'Stros only lost to the best in the AL), I want baseball!
CED - Cool-sounding (and ingenious) clock rig. When I was 12 I took stuff apart & put it back together again... with a part or two, the manufactured apparently didn't need, left over :-)
Bill G. Yep, at least you could 26yrs ago (and the drinking age was 19). As long as we put tape over the straw-HOLE, it was considered a closed container. "Oh, and here's your straw..."
TTP - that was a cool illusion. FWIW - I'm always up until 1 or 2a and back on-line at 6a-ish. Unless it's the weekend, then naps are my friend.
Right now I'm re-configin' my computer. I had my now-dead one "just so"; IE, Firefox & Chrome, (w/ shortcuts and ad-ins), Vim a right-click away, GNU's tools in my path, perl at the ready, and Xmouse-over working properly in Windows (yes, I want *NIX, but I gotta have Office). It usually takes three days to get my tools "just so" so that I'm most efficient. But, at least I didn't lose any of my FILEs (thanks xcopy!)
Oh, and yes, I just ordered 5 BTTF USA Todays; I'm part of the gullible public - thanks for pointing that out HowardW :-)
That's 5, -T Out. Cheers.
TTP: Wow! Cool illusion!
Good Friday evening, folks. Thank you, David Poole, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Got 'er done late last night, but then was quite tired when I got home at 11:00 PM, I crashed and burned. Busy all day today, so here I am.
Got through most of the puzzle easily for a Thursday, but the SE corner was tough. Had GAPES for 52D. Plus I spelled ELAYNE wrong. Eventually HAWKEEYES made sense. OK. That is my only inkblot area.
NEIGE was with perps, but I still do not know what it means. Maybe snow? Steve's write up was not real clear.
Liked QUAYLE EGG. Also remember his spelling of Potato, as potatoe.
Liked STATIC for 3D. We used to deal with STATIC electricity in the telephone exchanges Big Time. Static electricity is the killer of new electronic circuits.
I fixed my kitchen sink drain today after working on it on and off all week. So far no leaks.
See you later tonight if I can get through Friday's puzzle in short order. Have a Hillbilly Clan meeting tonight, so we will see.
Abejo
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