Theme: Two-Letter Combos - Pick two letters and find two related words that start with said letters.
17A. *Game where one might have an ace in the hole : STUD POKER
36A. *Financial page listing : STOCK PRICE
43A. *Only woman ever elected governor of Alaska : SARAH PALIN. In the news again.
61A. *Stack of unsolicited manuscripts : SLUSH PILE. Previously, this clue/answer were reversed.
11D. *Informal surveys : STRAW POLLS
29D. *Touchy topics : SORE POINTS
68A. "500" Wall St. index ... and a hint to the answers to starred clues : S AND P. (Standard & Poor's)
Argyle here. Mary Lou is very good at this style of early week themes. The perps should get you through the rough spots.
Across:
1. '90s game disc : POG. Tough start unless you had kids in the '90s or you were yourself.
4. Infield fly : POP-UP
9. Invites home for dinner, say : HAS IN. If it's Hannibal, don't go.
14. 007 creator Fleming : IAN
15. Banish : EXILE
16. Unable to sit still : ANTSY
19. Actor __ Elba of "The Wire" : IDRIS. The name "Idris"; Wikipedia.
20. Liability offset : ASSET
21. Settle in a new country : EMIGRATE
23. Young Simpson : BART
26. "Coulda been worse!" : "PHEW!". "That was a close one!"
27. Biblical beast : ASS
30. Least fatty : LEANEST
33. __-12 conference : PAC. (Pacific Coast Conference)
38. "__ creature was stirring ... " : NOT A
39. Team in 40-Across : CARDS
40. Arch city: Abbr. : STL. (St. Louis)
41. Ship carrying fuel : OILER
42. Iowa State city : AMES
45. Very quietly, in music : PPP. (pianississimo)
46. Artist's paint holder : PALETTE
47. Farm pen : STY
48. Gave the nod to : OKed. Anon nit, yes, we know you think it should be OK'D.
50. Payroll IDs : SSNs. (Social Security number)
52. Became partners : PAIRED UP
56. To date : SO FAR
60. Ed with seven Emmys : ASNER
64. "I'll do it" : "LET ME"
65. Gum treatment, briefly : PERIO. (periodontal treatment)
66. Former president of Pakistan : ZIA. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (Boy, did I mess this up!)
.jpg) |
| "Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq" by Wikifreund. |
67. Relaxed : EASED
69. Reheat quickly : ZAP
Down:
1. Leaning Tower of __ : PISA
2. Stable diet : OATS
3. Bearded antelopes : GNUs
 |
| "What are you looking at?" |
4. Coaches' speeches : PEP TALKS
5. Losing tic-tac-toe string : O-X-O
6. Water__: dental brand : PIK
7. Title beekeeper played by Peter Fonda : ULEE. "Ulee's Gold"
8. Make waves? : PERM
9. San Francisco street that crosses Ashbury : HAIGHT. For all you hippies.
10. Netman Agassi : ANDRE. (tennis)
12. "__ just me?" : IS IT
13. Financial page abbr. : NYSE. (New York Stock Exchange) How's your stock price?
18. Budding socialite : DEB
22. __ dixit: assertion without proof : IPSE
24. Sales agent : REP. 18D and 24D don't have indications that they are abbreviations: we know.
25. Like ankle bones : TARSAL
27. Songwriters' org. : ASCAP. (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
28. "Put __ here": envelope corner reminder : STAMP
31. Saltpeter, to a Brit : NITRE. (potassium nitrate)
32. Flashy displays : ECLATS
34. Took the loss, financially : ATE IT
35. Sideshow barker : CARNY. Short for carnival worker.
37. Music store buys : CDs
38. Actress Peeples : NIA
41. Workplace where union membership is optional : OPEN SHOP
43. DWI-fighting org. : SADD. (Students Against Destructive Decisions)
44. Growth chart nos. : HTs. (heights)
46. Looked carefully : PEERED
49. Krispy __ doughnuts : KREME
51. Soak (up) : SOP
52. Hardly healthy-looking : PALE
53. Out of port : ASEA
54. Snail-mail delivery org. : USPS. (United States Postal Service)
55. Formal petition : PLEA
57. Antacid jingle word repeated after "plop, plop" : FIZZ, FIZZ.
58. Et __: and others : ALIA
59. Harvest : REAP
62. Barista's vessel : URN
63. Rocker Vicious : SID. Bonus S&P: He was a member of the Sex Pistols.
Argyle
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary Lou and Santa!
Nice offering!
Fast work.
Cheers!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteA bit slower than usual for me, to be honest. Not sure why, but I had trouble with HAS IN of all things. It just doesn't seem like a natural expression and I needed all the perps to come up with it. And then there was TARSAL, which I actually guessed off the initial T but resisted putting in since (a) I wasn't sure if it was a real word and (b) this is a Monday puzzle after all and I didn't expect anything like that to actually be in it. Then there was ZIA and PERIO. Totally unfamiliar with the former and, despite being unfortunately and intimately familiar with the latter, I've never actually heard it abbreviated like that before.
So, yeah. Nothing too tough, but more crunch than expected for a Monday.
Good morning!
ReplyDeletePOG took every perp, but that turned out to be the only total unknown in this puzzle. Thanx, Mary Lou and Argyle.
PERIO -- Once a quarter, every quarter, for the rest of my life. Ugh!
STOCK PRICE -- When I retired, my employer's stock price was about $80. It closed Friday at $16.53. Ugh!
USPS -- We get rural delivery. Recently they even started delivering packages on Sunday. I think Amazon may have had something to do with that.
Hi Y'all! Fun & fast except for unknowns POG & IDRIS. Good one, Mary Lou. Thanks once again, Argyle!
ReplyDeleteDidn't catch on to the theme until the reveal despite so many theme entries.
I knew TARSAL, connected to MetaTARSAL, connected to Phalanges (toes). Boy, do I know 'em, having seen lovely xrays of mine recently.
CED, I had dreams about snowboarding behind a jeep last night. Better than some dreams I've had lately. Thanks.
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. This was certainly a challenge for a Monday. Lots of unknowns, but at least the perps could help out. Getting S AND P helped with some of the theme answers.
ReplyDeleteI think that the clue referring to the former President of Pakistan referred to Muhammad Zia-ul Haq (1924 ~ 1988). He was most likely assassinated in a sabotaged plane crash. Khaleda Zia is a former Prime Minister and is currently in the news.
My favorite clue was Making Waves = PERM.
A Water PIK might help with one with PERIO.
QOD: If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people. ~ Virginia Woolf (Jan. 25, 1882 ~ Mar. 28, 1941)
Hello, friends!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary Lou, for a swift sashay. Believe me, I remember POGs. Kids were obsessed with them, buying, trading, comparing, playing with them. In the end they were banned from school as being too distracting.
Strangely, IDRIS Alba popped right out and though I've seen ASCAP enough times I had ASCAM. MPP looked valid. Drat!
Still, this puzzle had some ZIP.
Thank you, Argyle, especially for pianissimo which I could not have known.
Have a delightful day, everyone!
I think Argyle goofed .Khaleda Zia is former Prime Minister
ReplyDeleteof Bangla Desh. Gen Zia ul Haq became President of
Pakistan in a coup in 1977 and hanged the then Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ,the elected Prime Minister of
Pakistan .
I certainly did mess that up: wrong country, wrong position, wrong person, and even wrong sex.
ReplyDeleteNice write-up Argyle. FUN puzzle Mary Lou.
ReplyDeleteHand-Up for also needing ESP to get POG, otherwise a speed-run.
A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteNice, easy-breezy start to the week with a few crunchies to chomp on. I know a woman with the name Edris but I don't know the derivation, just that I was totally unfamiliar with it. Had pie (Trivial Pursuit) before pog, whatever pogs might be. Everything else fell into place quite easily.
Well done, Mary Lou, you are a Swell And Prolific constructor and thanks, Argyle, you are a Savvy and Perfect conductor!
From yesterday, Abejo, I live in Troy, NY, home of Uncle Sam AKA, The Collar City.
I watched A Walk In The Woods last night and was so bored I fell asleep. Robert Redford and Nick Nolte have not aged well at all but I will always remember them fondly as Jay Gatsby (Redford) and Tom Wingo (Nolte in The Prince of Tides.)
Have a great day.
Overall pretty Monday friendly today. Vaguely remembered Pog, so no hangup there as the downs proved it. Complete unknowns were Idris and Zia, but the perps were friendly. Saw the recurring S's and P's before the reveal and was expecting it.
ReplyDeleteVery happy to celebrate Denver's win in the playoff game yesterday. What a game!
Easy breazy Monday, no worries.
ReplyDeleteHowever in looking for a funny POG pic,
I discovered that POG is a derogatory term used in the military
meaning People Other than Grunts!
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Gateway Arch...
Hmm, S and P,,,interesting...
wHEW, made it thought. Wait, PHEH?... Well frogs... FIW.
ReplyDeleteG'Monday morning puzzle pals.
A number of places I could have WAG'd wrong (NITRE/a?), 66a ESP xing 58d == another WAG. The one I didn't even think was a WAG (26a) I bollocks.
Thanks Mary Lou for a fun puzzle. Thanks Argyle for reminding me how depressed my IRA is right now... Oh, and the writeup.
Two places I stood in CA - Cannery [row] in Monterey and HAIGHT & Ashbury in SF. Epic man. Mom was a hippie so, by some's logic, naturally am I.
Re: POG @1a - I was a student in the 90's and played ultimate, disk golf, other Frisbee games. Never heard POG. ESSP [every single solid perp].
D-O: Re: USPS Sunday delivery. Surprised the hell out of me too. Friday night while at the Cantina we ordered some stuff for Eldest's Psych-class experiment and got it yesterday. Who needs drones when we already have them?
CED - I enjoyed both the pre/post production of skiing down Broadway videos. I noticed one guy had a YouTube jacket on - I wonder if they work for Google.
Think ASCAP will be PO'd if I link the Sex Pistols? You, dear reader, may.
Stay warm E. Coast puzzle pals.
Cheers, -T
Good Morning,
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary Lou, for another delightful puzzle--easier Monday answers with some crunch.
I liked "make waves" PERM. I have very straight hair and when I was young long ago, I used to have to PERM it to make it look like something beyond Paul McCartney. My husband always asked me how in the world a permanent could be temporary. Liked ANTSY--have two grandsons who fit that category--inherited the family ADD(HD) gene. ECLATs always make me think of roosters at dawn from the old French song. PPP is one musical notation that has never made sense to me.
Thanks, Argyle, for the Monday tour.
D-O @ 6:35. Yes, the USPS deliveries have something to do with online shopping. FedEx often ships to the local PO and lets the mail carrier finish the delivery. USPS is trying to keep up with the competition. Too bad Congress won't let them do more.
Have a good day. Photos from the Storm look pretty daunting. Stay cozy and safe.
I guess like the rest of us Argyle you are human and make mistakes. Mary Lou has really blossomed recently both on her own and in collaborations. The random letter pair puzzles only work if you have something like the S&P to unite the theme. POGs were easy, my kids had them, they seemed rather innocuous; the liquor store across the street is owned by Pakistanis so they have mentioned the name ZIA but I did not recall that until it was filled in. Thankfully FIZZ led the way.
ReplyDeleteThe rest had lots of fun words like HAIGHT, PALETTE, EMIGRATE, PEP TALKS, OPEN SHOP.
Thanks MLG and A
A quick little Monday offering. No unknowns. Came up with IDRIS from the ID--- and ZIA from the Z. Thanks Mary Lou and Argyle.
ReplyDeleteLucina, my memory of POGs exactly. They seem innocuous on their own, but the kids were so obsessed with them they became a huge distraction in class. Wiki: "The name originates from POG, a brand of juice made from passionfruit, orange, and guava; the use of POG bottle caps to play the game preceded the game's commercialization."
Link Wiki
Tomorrow I go for my quarterly PERIO. It seems to come due in the blink of an eye. Not again!
Loved the S&P shakers, CE Dave.
As above, Lemonade mentioned, Argyle is entitled to make mistakes, like all of us. Khaleda Zia maybe (is -) a muslim, but she speaks Bengali as her mother tongue, and is from Bangladesh, and that was what was the main reason for the secession, in the first place. I would like to take exception to Hahtoolah's statement that Zia was 'most likely assasinated'. The official FBI report, when they investigated the incident, because of american deaths involved, was that the cause was an accident, probably due to poor maintainence of the C130 Hercules, or pilot error. The 'sabotage' theory is only pushed on by conspiracy theorists.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside to Hahtoolah's link, the court case points to lack of freedom of speech and ideas, in the 3rd world, as an excuse for the lack of economic development.
Lemonade, forgive me, but .... pakistanis owning a liquor store is akin to jews operating a pork deli. ;-D)
YR & Lucina - Oh, that kinda disk! Seriously, I was thinking of Frisbees. I recall POGs (now that you 'splained it) and Gramps talking about milk-bottle cap games. I remember hearing about them in the news in the 90's (again, now that you said it). Thanks for the learning moment.
ReplyDeleteCED - I've been up in the STL Arch a few times. Amazing (the little cars are a bit old and scary, when going up those HTS). Even more fun - Busch stadium III sunken into the street's - view of the Arch from the 3rd base side. The CARDs are a fun team to watch, but go 'STROS [spring training starts soon!!!!]
I'm missing work (well, I wouldn't say I'm missing it @:13) today 'cuz car's in the shop. $850 so far; let's see what else they find wrong :-(
Cheers, -T
I thought this was a bit crunchy for a Monday, but still quite doable and a lot of fun. Many thanks, Mary Lou, and you too, Argyle, as always. I didn't get the theme until the reveal, and am glad to know what S AND P stands for.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss, how's your hand doing?
Have a great week, everybody!
I have been very busy of late, but I did enjoy the fun puzzle by Mary Lou and the write up by Argyle.
ReplyDeleteFor those who haven't seen these, I am repeating my links to
THE GNU SONG by Flanders and Swann
THE_GNU_SONG
AND by_the_Muppets
Live Well and Prosper
VS
VS - Muppets version is cute. Thanks. Here's my GNU link - GNU == GNU Not Unix a nice recursive acronym Please stop @:57 or you will be board beyond belief (unless you're a giant nerd like me; er, wait, I'm bored too.) C, -T
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I just went to the dentist to have a temporary crown replaced with a (hopefully) more permanent one and I asked them whether they ever used the word PERIO. Apparently, they use it all the time among themselves, but don't tend to use it in front of patients.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I go in for my quarterly PERIO in February. You don't go to the dentist for a decade or so, and suddenly you have to visit them four times a year for the rest of your life. Go figure...
I agree with Barry and Misty about this puzzle having more crunch than expected for a Monday. Maybe I am just out of practice after last week.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fun, Mary Lou and Argyle.
My boys played with POGS and I think there is still a box full of them in the basement.
I saw plenty of GNUs while on safari in Kenya but they were called wildebeests!
I noted 4A POP Up, 52A PAIRED UP (I had joined up at first), and 51D clue Soak (up).
I had LPs before CDs. Showing my age LOL!
Musical dynamics:
P = piano, pp = pianissimo, and ppp = pianississimo (softly, more softly, most softly) Sometimes pp means più piano (more softly).
So f = forte, ff = fortissimo, and fff = fortississimo (loudly, more loudly, most loudly).
Would it be considered political if a Canadian commented on SARAH PALIN supporting Trump? Probably a SORE POINT so I will refrain.
Canada has accepted over 10,000 Syrian refugees who have EMIGRATEd in the last few months.
Hello Everyone, A bit crunchy for me for a Monday. Pog, Zia, Idris, all unknown. Perps helped with all of them. I wasn't sure Idris was correct, so looked him up on Google. Now I'll know if his name comes up in a crossword again--or maybe not!
ReplyDeleteI had peeked before peered, but Asner took care of that error.
I must have retired just before the Pog craze took over. I don't remember them at all.
The theme eluded me until the reveal. But that wasn't needed to complete the other theme answers. All in all a fun Monday puzzle. Thanks Argyle for the review.
A beautiful sunny day here. My daughter's furnace conked out the first night of the storm in Baltimore. thank goodness for brave repair men from the company who came out in the midst of the storm and got it working once again.
Have a great day, everyone.
I had DND (Do Not Disturb) on the sub line but since I told one school to try me anyway on those days, they did. So here I am subbing my little heart out.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-I saw the S*P* pattern and thought it must be how ESPY awards are pronounced but no…
-STRAW POLLS can have very different results depending on whether you have to stand or get to vote secretly
-You can’t be a baseball fan unless you know the Infield Fly Rule being enforced here
-I’m still looking for ASSESTS to put on my personal books
-My neighbor went to the Iowa State Clinic in AMES, IA and spent thousands of dollars on hip dysplasia surgery for his 130 lb dog
-PPP in junior high science, yeah right!
-Ed Asner is my favorite curmudgeon
-IS IT just me or is the ground getting further away every year?
-Adding insult to injury - I have to put my own STAMP on this thing
-Our state is an OPEN SHOP for teacher’s unions and many don’t join because of political considerations
-Here comes a gaggle of juniors for Algebra III, read y’all later
Hello everybody. Enjoyed working this puzzle today. Pretty much the same impressions of it that have already been mentioned. I consider the S&P 500 index as a more accurate indicator of the state of the stock market than the Dow-Jones index. One huge problem I have with the stock market, or rather the traders, is that our IRAs and 401(k)s significantly decrease in value for no other reason than that the traders are "jittery" or "nervous" or "uncertain" about something and react with panic. Don't you find it interesting yet annoying that news announcers say things like "The market is jittery today" as if the legal construct called the market has emotions.
ReplyDeleteSteve, from yesterday, your point about "but then we run headlong into PAROL crossing ILION" is well taken.
Excellent write-up, Argyle. Thank you.
Best wishes to you all.
My brother from another mother, the reason I mentioned the liquor store part was the irony to which you allude. The Staff do not drink, though the number of Muslims that I have seen come in and buy liquor is akin to the Jews having bacon on their burgers. No religion, just observation.
ReplyDeletePartial words like PERIO which are not clued as prefix or suffix never satisfy me completely but I am sure we have all heard ORTHO used by itself so I guess in the end it made the puzzle stick together so....
...as if the legal construct called the market has emotions"
ReplyDeleteMetonym
My 2¢ worth
ReplyDelete1. Every Jewish friend I’ve had loved bacon and it’d be impossible to calculate the card-carrying Catholics who practice artificial birth control
2. On a tour of Amish country we saw a man who was the best tractor repairman in the area but he was forbidden to drive one. Huh?
-I’m off to the wilds of the Pythagorean Theorem
Just enough crunch but still doable. Thanks Mary Lou and Argyle.
ReplyDeleteWe have sunny skies and cool temperatures here. Hope the storm is abating for the rest of you who bore the brunt.
Stay warm!
'My brother from another mother'; .... Lemonade, OUR dad keeps complaining that you never visit .... or even write or call ..... ;-D)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Canadian, Eh for the PPP explanation! Makes perfect sense, but since I am not a musician I never quite understood it. Linguistically it makes perfect sense. Molto grazie!!!!
ReplyDeleteTo me crunchy for a monday. All those Fuurin names in there like granny used to say on Beverly Hilbilly's
ReplyDeleteLET ME link a random thing I saw today that you may enjoy after the X-Files reboot - US Air Force [redacted-UFO] Aircraft identification guide.
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T
<< You don't go to the dentist for a decade or so, and suddenly you have to visit them four times a year for the rest of your life. Go figure... >>
ReplyDeleteDear Barry:
It's called aging ... another aspect of which is how we go from 0 to 14 pills a day in just one office visit.