Theme: Rock Remix - A word scramble with "ROCK" in the theme entries.
As the grid-spanner in the center tells us:
39A. Jangle pop and the like, and a hint to a hidden feature of 17-, 30-, 46- and 63-Across : ALTERNATIVE ROCK. Exemplified in this case by a youthful-looking Michael Stipe and the jangly-mandolin-lead from Peter Buck. Great song. (Great video too).
17A. Temporarily out of stock, with "on" : BACK ORDER. You get an "F" in Supply Chain Management if you're responsible for inventory and this happens.
30A. One might spoil a dream : CLOCK RADIO. I've been woken many times in hotel rooms by the radio going off at quite bizarre times during the night and tuned to a weird channel. I always check and turn it off now when I check in to the room.
46A. Gadgets with helical parts called worms : CORKSCREWS. I never travel without one in my bag. I'd had the same one in my carry-on for at least two years until last Tuesday when the TSA guy at Burbank Airport took exception to it. Considering it had been through, conservatively, at least 50 checkpoints I was a little surprised.
63A. Restaurant convenience : CHECKROOM. I had no idea this was a thing. Now I know it is.
Neat theme from Mel and some suitably crunchy fill and cluing which together make up a firm Thursday. It took me a little while to get started and "jangle pop" was an unknown term for the theme hint, but after pinwheeling around the grid a couple of times things came together. Let's dive in a little deeper.
Across:
1. Congressional authority : WHIP. Keeping elected representatives under control, in attendance and toeing the party line. In an infamous case in the UK, during a tied vote, an MP was brought to Parliament in an ambulance (having suffered a severe heart attack) to break the deadlock. The two party whips were discovered in the ambulance arguing as to whether or not he was dead and could vote.
5. Lifeless : BLAH. Not the first definition that springs to mind.
9. Repaired, as a boot : SOLED. Not re-soled?
14. Warning to a tot : NO NO. This one's odd. Why a tot? Because you have to repeat "No"? Or is it a "no-no"?
15. Academic apparel : ROBE
16. Dancer Fred's dancing sister : ADELE. The singer gets a break from crossword duty today.
19. Add a lane to, say : WIDEN
20. Hot rod rods : AXLES. I saw "Hot hot rods" and was completely bamboozled by this one. Then I realized I'd misread the clue. So, axle = rod. Hot rods have axles, therefore hot rod rods. I'm channeling my inner Thumper on this one.
21. Not stable, in a way : TOP HEAVY
23. Sighed line : AH, ME
26. Wall St. event : I.P.O.
27. "Yeah, sure!" : I BET!
36. Beth, to Jo : SIS
37. Hindu "sir" : BABU. A very respectful term. I was called "Steve-babu" and "Steve-guru" on occasion when I was working in Mumbai. I don't think I merited either.
38. Spot in a spa : SAUNA
43. Old counters : ABACI. This little section caused me some trouble - I had ESTER first, and I didn't know ECK so I was looking at ABE_I and scratching my head, then the penny dropped.
44. Aussie hoppers : 'ROOS
45. Daisy __ : MAE
49. The Constitution St. : CONN -ecticut. Also known, less catchily, as "The Land of Steady Habits".
50. Cadenza maker : KIA
51. 50-Across' locale : ASIA. South Korea to be exact. I had a Kia rental car last week. Not the most stylish thing to look at, but it was nicely equipped and was pretty lively.
53. Enjoy the sunset : FACE WEST
58. About : CIRCA
62. Old marketplace : AGORA
66. Flower part : SEPAL
67. Dynamic beginning? : AERO
68. The Big Easy acronym : NOLA. Because EEPG (Ernie Els, Professional Golfer) is wrong. CSO to one of our regulars.
69. "East of Eden" surname : TRASK. Great novel.
70. Balcony section : LOGE
71. Card game for three : SKAT
Down:
1. Where the Sky and the Sun collide, for short? : WNBA. Last week's CHICAGO SKY learning moment clued me into this one. Coincidentally, the SUN are from "The Land of Steady Habits".
2. Scam : HOAX
3. Part of the pkg. : INCL. I tried ENCL first, thinking of an enclosure in an envelope. Nope, this is "included in the price".
4. Jab : POKE AT
5. "Darn, it's cold!" : BRR
6. Airport near Tel Aviv : LOD. The former name. It's now called Ben Gurion Airport. The airport code is TLV, so I think this is a wee error in the cluing. No harm, no foul, in my book. One of our snarky anons doubtless will jump on this one though.
7. Withhold information about, say : ABET
8. Beyond noble : HEROIC
9. Supports in shop class : SAWHORSES
10. Comic strip drooler : ODIE. Garfield's antagonist.
11. Mythical Spartan queen : LEDA
12. The mi. in Mile-High City : ELEV. I was there last week. Curiously, the ELEV is posted in the lobby of the Denver Tech Center Marriott next to the ELEVATORS.
13. Opposite of admit : DENY
18. Kyrgyzstan city : OSH
22. Walther __: James Bond's pistol : PPK. One of my friends carries a concealed PPK when he's carrying cash to the bank. It packs a heck of a punch in spite of being so small.
24. Thom of shoes : MCAN. Spelled McAn.
25. Tyrrhenian Sea island : ELBA. "Able was I, ere I saw Elba".
27. Name on the "Robot" series books : ISAAC. Author Asimov.
28. Bag End notable : BILBO. Of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" fame. Not Frodo, though it could be.
29. To be, in Toledo : ESTAR. Not ESTER as I originally thought. Spanish isn't my "first" foreign language.
31. Bizarre : OUTRÉ
32. Berne's river : AAR
33. Italian cathedral : DUOMO
34. Like Andean pyramids : INCAN
35. Kind of bucket : OAKEN. This one is the trophy for the winner of the Purdue - Indiana football rivalry game.
37. Outdoor exercise choice : BRISK WALK
40. Luther opponent Johann __ : ECK. Close to Natick'ed with ABACI until I fixed my "ESTAR" misspelling.
41. Louisiana Territory state : IOWA
42. Discovery astronaut James : VOSS' Flew five times on the shuttle and in the International Space Station. He, with colleague Susan Helms., has the record for the longest space walk from the ISS (eight hours, 56 minutes). Definitely the Right Stuff.
47. Cannes corp. : CIE. Compagnie abbreviation.
48. Imp : RASCAL
49. Stone monuments : CAIRNS
52. Word of disgust : ICK. My reaction when I got the answer to 54D below.
53. Up-tempo : FAST
54. Too much sun, they say : AGER
55. Club in a Manilow song : COPA. I thought it was the Copacabana, but the song title is "Copacabana (At the Copa)". I stand corrected.
56. Baseball stats : ERAS
57. Religious prefix : THEO. -logy, -logian, etc.
59. Corner piece : ROOK. Chessboard corners. They do move around, but they start off in the corners.
60. Fizzy drink : COLA
61. Bit of introductory Latin : AMAT. Amamus, amatis and amant don't seem to be crossword-fodder. Do we run out of familiarity when we get to the plural verb forms?
64. 100 nanojoules : ERG
65. 41-Down college : COE. Thank you, crosses.
And .... here's the grid.
Steve
As the grid-spanner in the center tells us:
39A. Jangle pop and the like, and a hint to a hidden feature of 17-, 30-, 46- and 63-Across : ALTERNATIVE ROCK. Exemplified in this case by a youthful-looking Michael Stipe and the jangly-mandolin-lead from Peter Buck. Great song. (Great video too).
17A. Temporarily out of stock, with "on" : BACK ORDER. You get an "F" in Supply Chain Management if you're responsible for inventory and this happens.
30A. One might spoil a dream : CLOCK RADIO. I've been woken many times in hotel rooms by the radio going off at quite bizarre times during the night and tuned to a weird channel. I always check and turn it off now when I check in to the room.
46A. Gadgets with helical parts called worms : CORKSCREWS. I never travel without one in my bag. I'd had the same one in my carry-on for at least two years until last Tuesday when the TSA guy at Burbank Airport took exception to it. Considering it had been through, conservatively, at least 50 checkpoints I was a little surprised.
63A. Restaurant convenience : CHECKROOM. I had no idea this was a thing. Now I know it is.
Neat theme from Mel and some suitably crunchy fill and cluing which together make up a firm Thursday. It took me a little while to get started and "jangle pop" was an unknown term for the theme hint, but after pinwheeling around the grid a couple of times things came together. Let's dive in a little deeper.
Across:
1. Congressional authority : WHIP. Keeping elected representatives under control, in attendance and toeing the party line. In an infamous case in the UK, during a tied vote, an MP was brought to Parliament in an ambulance (having suffered a severe heart attack) to break the deadlock. The two party whips were discovered in the ambulance arguing as to whether or not he was dead and could vote.
5. Lifeless : BLAH. Not the first definition that springs to mind.
9. Repaired, as a boot : SOLED. Not re-soled?
14. Warning to a tot : NO NO. This one's odd. Why a tot? Because you have to repeat "No"? Or is it a "no-no"?
15. Academic apparel : ROBE
16. Dancer Fred's dancing sister : ADELE. The singer gets a break from crossword duty today.
19. Add a lane to, say : WIDEN
20. Hot rod rods : AXLES. I saw "Hot hot rods" and was completely bamboozled by this one. Then I realized I'd misread the clue. So, axle = rod. Hot rods have axles, therefore hot rod rods. I'm channeling my inner Thumper on this one.
21. Not stable, in a way : TOP HEAVY
23. Sighed line : AH, ME
26. Wall St. event : I.P.O.
27. "Yeah, sure!" : I BET!
36. Beth, to Jo : SIS
37. Hindu "sir" : BABU. A very respectful term. I was called "Steve-babu" and "Steve-guru" on occasion when I was working in Mumbai. I don't think I merited either.
38. Spot in a spa : SAUNA
43. Old counters : ABACI. This little section caused me some trouble - I had ESTER first, and I didn't know ECK so I was looking at ABE_I and scratching my head, then the penny dropped.
44. Aussie hoppers : 'ROOS
45. Daisy __ : MAE
49. The Constitution St. : CONN -ecticut. Also known, less catchily, as "The Land of Steady Habits".
50. Cadenza maker : KIA
51. 50-Across' locale : ASIA. South Korea to be exact. I had a Kia rental car last week. Not the most stylish thing to look at, but it was nicely equipped and was pretty lively.
53. Enjoy the sunset : FACE WEST
58. About : CIRCA
62. Old marketplace : AGORA
66. Flower part : SEPAL
67. Dynamic beginning? : AERO
68. The Big Easy acronym : NOLA. Because EEPG (Ernie Els, Professional Golfer) is wrong. CSO to one of our regulars.
69. "East of Eden" surname : TRASK. Great novel.
70. Balcony section : LOGE
71. Card game for three : SKAT
Down:
1. Where the Sky and the Sun collide, for short? : WNBA. Last week's CHICAGO SKY learning moment clued me into this one. Coincidentally, the SUN are from "The Land of Steady Habits".
2. Scam : HOAX
3. Part of the pkg. : INCL. I tried ENCL first, thinking of an enclosure in an envelope. Nope, this is "included in the price".
4. Jab : POKE AT
5. "Darn, it's cold!" : BRR
6. Airport near Tel Aviv : LOD. The former name. It's now called Ben Gurion Airport. The airport code is TLV, so I think this is a wee error in the cluing. No harm, no foul, in my book. One of our snarky anons doubtless will jump on this one though.
7. Withhold information about, say : ABET
8. Beyond noble : HEROIC
9. Supports in shop class : SAWHORSES
10. Comic strip drooler : ODIE. Garfield's antagonist.
11. Mythical Spartan queen : LEDA
12. The mi. in Mile-High City : ELEV. I was there last week. Curiously, the ELEV is posted in the lobby of the Denver Tech Center Marriott next to the ELEVATORS.
13. Opposite of admit : DENY
18. Kyrgyzstan city : OSH
22. Walther __: James Bond's pistol : PPK. One of my friends carries a concealed PPK when he's carrying cash to the bank. It packs a heck of a punch in spite of being so small.
24. Thom of shoes : MCAN. Spelled McAn.
25. Tyrrhenian Sea island : ELBA. "Able was I, ere I saw Elba".
27. Name on the "Robot" series books : ISAAC. Author Asimov.
28. Bag End notable : BILBO. Of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" fame. Not Frodo, though it could be.
29. To be, in Toledo : ESTAR. Not ESTER as I originally thought. Spanish isn't my "first" foreign language.
31. Bizarre : OUTRÉ
32. Berne's river : AAR
33. Italian cathedral : DUOMO
34. Like Andean pyramids : INCAN
35. Kind of bucket : OAKEN. This one is the trophy for the winner of the Purdue - Indiana football rivalry game.
37. Outdoor exercise choice : BRISK WALK
40. Luther opponent Johann __ : ECK. Close to Natick'ed with ABACI until I fixed my "ESTAR" misspelling.
41. Louisiana Territory state : IOWA
42. Discovery astronaut James : VOSS' Flew five times on the shuttle and in the International Space Station. He, with colleague Susan Helms., has the record for the longest space walk from the ISS (eight hours, 56 minutes). Definitely the Right Stuff.
47. Cannes corp. : CIE. Compagnie abbreviation.
48. Imp : RASCAL
49. Stone monuments : CAIRNS
52. Word of disgust : ICK. My reaction when I got the answer to 54D below.
53. Up-tempo : FAST
54. Too much sun, they say : AGER
55. Club in a Manilow song : COPA. I thought it was the Copacabana, but the song title is "Copacabana (At the Copa)". I stand corrected.
56. Baseball stats : ERAS
57. Religious prefix : THEO. -logy, -logian, etc.
59. Corner piece : ROOK. Chessboard corners. They do move around, but they start off in the corners.
60. Fizzy drink : COLA
61. Bit of introductory Latin : AMAT. Amamus, amatis and amant don't seem to be crossword-fodder. Do we run out of familiarity when we get to the plural verb forms?
64. 100 nanojoules : ERG
65. 41-Down college : COE. Thank you, crosses.
And .... here's the grid.
Steve
45 comments:
Greetings!'
Thanks, Mel and Steve!
A bit of a toughie. Did not know: TRASK, VOSS, LOD. Eventually got it done.]
Watched two episodes of Blindspot. Great fun.
Cheers!
Disregard right paren.Typing on iPad is hard for me,.`
Morning, all!
Never heard of JANGLE POP, but once every single perp got me to ALTERNATIVE ROCK I was off and running. Well, not really, but at least it let me see the scrambled ROCK in every theme answer that I filled in without knowing the theme.
Tons of annoying obscurities today. LOD, OSH, VOSS, PPK, LEDA, DUOMO, etc. After awhile, I was just cringing a I waited for the next one to appear. But then I finished the puzzle and all was forgiven.
Toughest spots were in the NW, where I had ENCL before INCL (which hid WHIP from view) and right in the center where I had SABU before BABU. I knew that SRISKWALK wasn't right, but it still took me awhile to come up with the right answer.
Spinal stenosis they call my disorder,
At random my legs fold like a tripod camcorder.
The pains are legion
In my lumbar region.
But I've found a fix, and placed a BACK ORDER!
The FACE of MAE WEST caused Matty to gawk.
Matty offered horse riding, the speed a BRISK WALK.
The stables were fragrant,
But the stalls were all vacant,
So they straddled SAWHORSES to just sit and talk!
Romance had found the detective, Sherlock!
He'd propose in the morn, as per his RADIO CLOCK.
But while he was asleep
A light-fingered thief
Stole the ring, so he used an ALTERNATIVE ROCK!
Good morning!
Is it really only Thursday? This puzzle seemed tougher than expected. Got 'er done, but it was a struggle. Never got the theme, so that was normal.
OSH without the Kosh seemed weird. But so were CIE and BABU. COE I knew -- used to work just down the street from the campus.
Fun challenge, in spite of missing the Natick (I) at CIE and KIA. I red lettered to confirm it and my second choice was correct. Now I recognize Cadenza as an automobile and I remember CIE, too late. I was thinking credenza, furniture. Worrying about that (I) made me forget to look for the theme.
BILBO and PPK were all perps. Having been a Lutheran PK growing up, I knew ECK.
WHIP took a while. I was not thinking authority figure, just authority.
I would say NO NO to a tot, but just NO to an adult or teen.
I wondered about RESOLE , too. But when I take my shoes in for repair I ask to have them SOLED.
I have had the same problem with alarm clocks going off at odd hours in motels. One was so complicated I couldn't set it not to ring, so I unplugged it.
AGER for too much sun makes sense. I have seen older people who have worked or basked in the sun all their lives, having exceptionally old skin.
Thanks for a fine puzzle, Mel and for a great write up, Steve.
Yesterday we lost power for 5-10 minutes and I lost my blog. Control Z, doesn't work in that case.
Pretty challenging, as noted. Had to rely on wags a lot more than typical for a Thursday, but every area had at least some decent fodder for guessing. Flat did not know Osh, Duomo, Eck, Voss, Babu and Trask, with the R in Trask being the final fill (and guess). But it all worked out.
Thank you Steve. BTW, there are any number of places around Denver where you will see signs with an elev of 5,280'. Puportedly, those are places where that is the precise altitude. Including one on the 19th step of the State Capitol entrance (IIRC). So you might see them in places that seem a bit odd, but there is method to the madness.
MEL ROSEN has been building puzzles for almost 50 years. This is is his first LAT in almost exactly 3 years and the puzzle shows his style from the pre Will Shortz days at the NYT. I enjoyed it very much and your write up Steve.
Thanks
D-N-F ... just ran-out-of-solving-time.
Steve: Nice write-up explaining my Ink Blot. Good Job.
Mel: Thank You for a Thursday puzzle that I enjoyed the parts I completed.
BRISK-WALK was a CSO to d-otto who likes to do his early in the morning.
When I FACE-WEST tonight at Sunset ... I will "toast-you-ALL."
Cheers!
I had a fairly solid start in the NE and SW corners, and then got going in the SE up through the middle. But lots of unknown references in the clues slowed me down all over, and I had to depend completely on WAGS in all areas. Never heard of PPK, and had to correct TOO HEAVY after coming here. Didn't know WHIP was an authority on anything, associate that term with the third man on a debating team. So that and WNBA remained unfinished in that corner, with ENCL and -OKEAT, completing the mystery.
Despite the many pitfalls, I was somewhat sated by getting as much of this done as I did. Lately, I've given up on quite a few Thursdays and Fridays.
A bit of laziness made me miss two letters. Otherwise, an interesting solve.
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Mel! Thanks, Steve, always enjoy the British tidbits.
The CLOCK/MCAN/ELBA/ BABU area was a SNAFU for me. I didn't know ELBA was in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Didn't know there was such a sea. I wanted "alarm" RADIO but stopped when the "A" turned red so didn't get an "L" out of the guess. Thought the shoes were ManN. BABU was just new to me.
Jangle pop? Whazat? I did get the ROCK theme after I was completely finished and studied the thing. Jangled my nerves though. I even thought maybe it was connected to the movie "Jango Unchained" for a sec.
Didn't know LOD, LEDA, DUOMO, COE among a few others. Never got the ROOK as a chess piece. I was thinking bird or ROOK the card game which we played as a kid. I did better with a four-color format than I did with two red suits and two black suits which I kept getting intermixed when I played. Got yelled at for some reason.
Cadenza maker KIA, ASIAN had me puzzled. Car, not furniture. I thought the cars were made at a USA plant though.
Speaking of ALTERNATIVE ROCK, it must have been what I was under when Jangle Pop was coined. This great puzzle took a big effort and an equally big eraser for me. The cluing/fill was clever and at a definite late-week level.
Musings
-AXLES/HEAPS, HOAX/RUSE, BRISK/ POWER WALK, CONN/PENN, ROOK/NOOK were not helpful
-The Michael Stipe song was fun but the only thing clear to me was the incredible editing job, not the symbolism.
-Setting CLOCK RADIOS in hotels is a challenge every night
-“If you want to keep that nice parking space senator, you’d better vote the way the WHIP says. Leave your convictions in the CHECK ROOM”
-There is much debate whether “NO NO” should be accompanied by a tap on the tush
-I BET!
-Famous “checking her out” in the Sauna scene (1:06) from Seinfeld
-Batt. not INCL.
-Our HEROIC first responders run toward the disaster
-Sean Connery is the best Walther PPK wielder to me!
-The incredible DUOMO of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence is magnificent to behold
-I saw MAE West in an Owen limerick and waited for TOP HEAVY but sigh… ☺
-Do you remember a Melanie Griffith movie where she was trying to get a line on TRASK Industries? Here’s the answer!
Not the easiest puzzle which was just about right for a Thursday. Thanks Mel and Steve. I didn't get the theme, but perps and a few WAGs filled in the blanks.
When you have small children, NONOs are frequently used. I do remember an instance of DW running and screaming NO-NO-NO-NO-NO to stop our little one from getting into a dangerous situation (stairs.) That was a little more than just a NONO.
I had Latin in HS and remembered AMO, AMAS, AMAT. It had to be one of the last two. The joke back then was that "Latin is a dead language and now it's killing me." I switched to French in my senior year.
I didn't know TRASK, DUOMO, ECK, SKAT, and three and four letter rivers in Europe are a PITA (Pain In The A--.) I know what a Walther PPK is and remember from the early Bond movies that his superiors wanted him to use a Barretta because they considered the PPK to be a lightweight. We have a P22 which is similar to a PPK.
I think I will FACE WEST and head for Wegmans to get ingredients for chicken soup. Have a great day everyone.
With the average age of our regular posters being 73, I'm going to guess that BRISK WALK was right in everyone's wheelhouse.
Good Morning:
This had some crunch but perps and wags did the trick. I can never remember Osh, probably because it appears so infrequently or, more likely, because I just forgot it!
Thanks, Mel, for a challenging Thursday and thanks, Steve, for the expo. I knew Connecticut only as the Constitution State and the Nutmeg State.
Ferm, I use a stylus on my iPad which makes typing a lot easier.
It's very cold here today but by Wednesday it'll be back in the 50's. As Tin would say, "Go figure!"
Have a great day.
Anon at 9:51: BRISK WALK? Not me, not yet. I'm still at the limp along without crutches stage.
Lest we forget Babu: Seinfeld.
I got stuck in the NW and required red letter help to finish but I did get the theme. Thanks Mel and Steve.
WBS about obscurities. I did not understand INCL until Steve explained.
My WALK was Quick before BRISK. I had Emus before ROOS (although in hindsight I should have known Emus don't hop!), Dead before BLAH, and Odder before OUTRE.
I should have memorized the State nicknames the other day. Sadly my knowledge of Louisiana territory was lacking also.
I smiled at the clues for ABACI and ROOK.
Speaking of astronauts, there will be some interesting studies with Scott Kelly and his twin, Mark, on effects of prolonged periods of time in space on human body.
I saw the CSO to Big Easy and thought of Tin's toasts at sunset with FACE WEST.
Enjoy the day. I'm off to the spa for a massage (not a SAUNA).
ANON @ 9:51, how did you figure the average age?
Yes, a tad on the crunchy side. Got it done, though, but without a TADA.
Nice write-up, Steve. Thanks for your insight on Thursdays!
Hola y Buenos dias!
To start with, I put on my Thursday hat and inched my way into Mel Rosen's wave length. Although slow, it worked and I even got ROCK from the theme answers. Luckily enough anchors were available to help connect the spaces. WHIP, HOAX, ADELE, ESTAR (ESTAN first)and so forth all gave me a toe hold. I didn't quite recall CONN as the Constitution state but remembered CAIRNS from my trip to Scotland where they are everywhere.
And thanks to Hahtoolah, COE was etched in my brain. East of Eden is such a good book that I've read it three times.
Thank you, Mr. Rosen and Steve. Today was mighty entertaining and just enough of a challenge to make it interesting.
Have a great Thursday, everyone!
All the vagaries & unknowns I had have already been highlighted, so my post will be short.
46A CORKSCREWS did me in. Instead of CORK I wagged Kash. 27,28,29, 40D were all unknown to me.
So as I feared, a DNF. This has been a difficult week for me. Tomorrow will probably be a "forgettaboutit."
Re 20 across: The "rods" in a "hot rod" don't refer to the "axles", nor even the "tie rods" that tie the steering rack to the steering arm. In this clue the term properly refers to the "piston rods" that connect the pistons to the camshaft. In high performance cars the rods become extremely hot due to friction as they move the pistons up and down during every rotation of the camshaft. They can in fact get so hot that they become distorted and eventually separate from the camshaft, causing the phenomenon known as "throwing a rod", a catastrophic occurrence necessitating a major engine rebuild. Tuning a "hot rod" is thus a balancing act between speed and excessive friction.
Relative to the beating that piston rods take, the life of an axle or a tie rod is a piece of cake.
The answer to 20 across chosen by the author was obviously necessitated by a "hoax".
I believe waseeley means CRANKSHAFT not cam shaft
Thank you Anonymous. I sit corrected. The camshaft opens and closes the valves that let the air/fuel mixture into the cylinders. The crankshaft does the heavy lifting of the pistons up and down in the cylinders. I'm glad to see that someone was paying attention!
DNF (Too many personal Naticks.)
Tx Yellowrocks for the too much sun=ager explanation,
I was having a hard time with that one (& who is T.Dask?)
WEES, (its pretty much been said already.)
However,
For the gun enthusiast. (short 1:45 version.)
For the gun enthusiast. (long version, 19:17)
Musical interlude.(if you want to dance with me...)
Silly rock #1
Silly rock #2
Silly rock #3
Obligatory Kitty Pic(& my reaction to the puzzle...)
& a very unfortunate pose (DF)
Well, Onward to the next puzzle!
Gettable, but tough.
I was searching for a version of Gearbox for what turned out to be CORKSCREW. And I wondered about a variation of Sri (Sree?) for 37A, mistaking Sanskrit for Hindu, before trying Sabu, before getting BABU.
Otherwise this was a steady slog for me, with only one (two?) lookups required.
OwenKL @ 5:57,
Your diagnosis is the same as mine-- lumbar stenosis, a most unwelcome ailment. After several attempted treatments, from spinal injections to surgeries (two ops), I am learning to live with it. Apparently all those years I spent as a daily runner were great for cardio health, but not so hot for the cumulative impacts that slammed my vertebrae together. I've settled for Dr. House's method. Bring on the painkillers!
SO-- there's an OSH in Kyrgyzstan, but is there a Kosh?
My goodness, this felt more like a Saturday than a Thursday to me, and I worried that I might not be able to finish it. But it started to come together, slowly, and once I got the theme (even though I've never heard of "Jangle pop") the rest began to fall into place. So, I did it, it worked, Yay! Many thanks, Mel, and you too, Steve, for your always interesting expo.
Have a great Thursday, everybody!
Waseeley shows limited knowledge of engines and none about crossword construction. Having 'rod' in the question means it can't be in the answer. I know of no 4-letter term for a connecting rod either. Hot rod's rod has been used for many years as a clue for AXLE. It is true that a wagon's rod would have been more suited for AXLE but, hey, it's constructor license.
Argyle,my thoughts exactly. Any rod on the hot rod would qualify, including the axle. The rod does not have to be hot. Hot is part of the type of car, hot rod.
Quite a few times as I was trying to solve this puzzle I wondered, "What the f*** does this mean?" Even after I'd get an answer, I often didn't know what the heck it had to do with the clue, such as WNBA. Yeah yeah, I know now; it's not the call letters of a radio station. I think you get the idea I didn't like this puzzle very much.
Yeah, 46A. Gadgets with helical parts called worms
had me thinking of something in a car transmission.
(but I was screwed before I ever got to 46A...)
P.S.some close up shots of engine parts
after a thrown rod.
me too Kazie on Too heavy
On our first date, my husband-to-be's old 1954 Ford Custom threw a rod which punched a hole in the radiator. He coasted it over to a nearby parking lot and walked to the nearest phone. He'd been a confirmed bachelor for many years. His father & mother drove by while I sat and waited. His father said, "Isn't that (son's) car? We better go back and see if he needs help." His mother said, "Oh it can't be his car. There's a woman sitting in it." Meanwhile, my not-yet husband was upset because he thought I'd be gone with whoever happened by before he could get his brother to bring another vehicle. I hung around for the next 34 years.
Puzzle construction was fine. The clues however, were just terrible.
Mr. Rosen seems to be another puzzle constructor who doesn't really want anyone to solve, thus the terrible clues.
I thought the clues were just fine and challenging as they should be for a Thursday. They simply required thinking outside the box.
Send us more, Mr. Rosen
CED
Thanks for the engine parts after a thrown roc link @3:22
PK
Great story about your "not-yet-husband" ... 34 years sounds like the rod wasn't completely thrown ... lol
Cheers!
Waseeley shows limited knowledge of engines"
Exactly.
Even though I have been a Chevy and Pontiac (RIP) guy all my life, a '54 Ford was a pretty cool car back in the day. I'm betting you looked pretty sharp in it, thrown rod or no. And I'll bet your farmer could rebuild that engine, too.
Good evening, Steve and friends. Wow, I am really late to the puzzle today. I found this puzzle of Broken Rocks to be quite a challenge. It's never good when I can't get 1-Across or 1-Down on the first pass! Still it turned out to be a fun puzzle.
I thought of Don't! instead of NO! NO! for the Tot's Warning.
Petal and SEPAL share three letters in the same place!
The State keeps having discussions of WIDENing Interstate-10 in Baton Rouge, where it essentially narrows down to one lane. NOLA, however, was a gimme.
The main airport in Israel was known as LOD Airport from 1948 until 1973, when the name was changed to honor David Ben-Gurion, the country's first prime minister.
OSH? I though it was a line of children's clothing.
I knew the Cadenza was a KIA, but couldn't figure out how to fit South Korea into four spaces.
PK ~ Your story about your first date with your hubby is so touching! I loved it.
QOD: A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with ~ a man is what he makes of himself. ~ Alexander Graham Bell (b. Mar. 3, 1847 ~ Aug. 2, 1922)
Hi All!
Crash & Burn today... While I'd like to offer the excuse that I'm too busy to give it my full (that is true), I still have to admit - I didn't know Jack.
N. Is complete w/ out error. Middle (Earth) got me ISSAC, BIBLO, ABACI, CORKSCREWS, ROOS, CONN, KIA, ASIA & nothing else.
And I really screwed up a dream-spoiler: I had (lightly inked) horroRshow - Thom's last name (thum) gave me that... Doh!
RASCAL, ERG, NOLA, COLA, and ROOK are all that POKE out AT the bottom :-(
Thanks Steve for helping me learn from my Failure. Thanks Mel for providing it :-)
Fav: ISAAC Asimov - I read (most) everything of his my ute. I still think of Foundation's Psychohistory today - especially as I watch the debates :-)
Thought of Big-E and all our NOLA Cornerites @ 68a
CED - I'll check out your videos after my work is done - I liked the Trivia night one. Yours too HG.
Here's a random video (6:01 hot/crazy matrix) that boss-man re-enacted post-meeting today. Hey, when you're in the patch and oil's at $35... you gotta have a laugh.
Back to work - I still have a 30 page contract to review and a 15 page SOW in queue.
I tell 'ya, there's just not enough weeks in a day...
Cheers, -T
I needed extensive red-letter help today, which is unusual for a Thursday. But I did note before the reveal that the letters CROAK all were abutting in the first two, but then the A was omitted from the rest.
OMKeith: although sometimes written in first person, not all of my lims are biographic, but this one mostly was. I have to be reclining nearly all the time. Which for lazy me is great! I've got an excuse for staying in bed all day! I haven't ordered a new BACK, but have considered a BACK brace, one of those belt things.
For HGary:
A life-saving floatie of eponymic name
Honored MAE WEST of pneumatic fame
Unlike a bevy
Of belles, TOP-HEAVY,
She was natural, not a bionic dame!
Extremely late on today's puzzle and didn't get the NW completed. Only BACKORDER and POCKET were complete. Sky and Sun___ex-GM vehicles' Saturn SKY and Pontiac SUNbird. I never touched an axle except on a car that had been sitting for a while so I wouldn't know if it were "hot" or not. ENCLosure? no, INCLuded just doesn't sound like 'Part of a pkg.'
Can't believe I didn't get WHIP since the current House Majority Whip (I won't mention his name- no politics) lives 3 blocks from where lived until I built a new house. So it was a DNF.
I had a few unknowns filled by perps: TRASK, SABU, PPK, LOD, VOSS. CHECKROOM is a term I haven't heard- usually a COAT CHECK.
NOLA- before the movie "Big Easy" came out, I had never heard of New Orleans being called 'The Big Easy". 'Crescent City','New Awlins', 'Nawlins', even 'New Orleenz', 'Din of Inequity', 'Sin City of the South' but not BIG EASY.
I meant BABU- originally wrote SABU.
Post a Comment