Theme: "AND THEY'RE OFF!" - heard at the races and about the Marx Brothers.
20A. Keep tabs on a shipment : TRACK ONE'S ORDER
25A. Some briefs : JOCKEY SHORTS
44A. Shrewd bargaining : HORSE TRADING
50A. 1937 Marx Brothers film ... and, based on words that begin 20-, 25- and 44-Across, this puzzle's title : "A DAY AT THE RACES"
Argyle here. My Derby pick came in third but I didn't bet so it doesn't matter. This puzzle shows itself a winner as it takes its place at the start of the week. The three entries are unique words, meaning they have never been in a NY Times puzzle.
Across:
1. See 16-Across : JULEP. 16A. With 1-Across, Kentucky Derby drink : MINT. Not your style? How about 28D. Beer barrel : KEG. No? Then 30D. Part of BYOB : OWN, Bring Your Own Booze. (or bottle)
6. Haunted house sound : MOAN. The sound of those that bet against Nyquist.
10. Females : SHEs, Like 23A. Coop group female : HEN and 32A. Crimp-haired critters : EWES
14. Soul singer Baker : ANITA. Missed the boat; not clueing this as Santa Anita, home track for Derby winner, Nyquist. Plus, on Mother’s Day, the best female horse in America, Beholder, won the $100,000 Adoration Stakes.
15. Convention center event : EXPO
17. Humongous : GIANT
18. "__ we forget" : LEST
19. Hold 'em fee : ANTE. Pay to play.
24. Favorable rise : UPTURN. Spectators rise up when the field turns for home.
31. Except if : UNLESS
33. Elbow poke : JAB
36. Party lacking ladies : STAG
37. Roadside retreat : INN
38. "Out of the way!" : "MOVE!". What the come-from-behind jockeys are saying.
39. Help for one stuck in a rut, perhaps : TOW
40. Mortgage change, briefly : REFI. (refinance)
42. Bach's "Mass in __" : B MINOR. Johann Sebastian Bach
46. Snap out of it : COME TO
49. DVR button : REC. (record)
56. Golf standout McIlroy : RORY. Currently ranked third in the world.
57. Furniture chain that sells Swedish meatballs : IKEA
58. Like a gift of chocolates : BOXED
60. Small jazz group : TRIO
61. What one often wears out? : COAT Misdirection on a Monday!
62. Went berserk : RAGED
63. Isaac's older son : ESAU
64. Once-sacred snakes : ASPs
65. Live and breathe : EXIST
Down:
1. Car with a cat logo, briefly : JAG
2. Self-storage compartment : UNIT
3. "Tell me the truth!" : "LIAR!". I get a kick out of these things.
4. Sicilian volcano : ETNA
5. Quilting squares : PATCHES
6. Fruit stand buys : MELONS
7. Yoked team : OXEN
8. Vaulted church recess : APSE
9. On the fence : NOT SURE
10. Brainpower : SMARTS
11. Many a Mumbai man : HINDU
12. Step into : ENTER
13. Back of the boat : STERN
21. Lock inserts : KEYS
22. Drops (out) : OPTS
25. Barely : JUST
26. Not fooled by : ON TO
27. Tiger's gripper : CLAW
29. '20s-'30s skating gold medalist Sonja : HENIE
33. "Both Sides Now" singer Mitchell : JONI
34. Door-to-door cosmetics seller : AVON
35. Arctic hazard : BERG
37. Things up in the air : IFs
38. Prefix with term or town : MID
40. Membership list : ROTA
41. Steamy writing : EROTICA
42. Fictional fox's title : BR'ER
43. Ghoulish : MACABRE
44. "Psst!" : "HEY, YOU!"
45. Springs for lunch : TREATS
46. À la __ : CARTE
47. Clean-out-the-fridge warnings : ODORS
48. "West Side Story" love song : MARIA
51. Boxer's stats : TKOs. (technical knockout)
52. Sloppy stack : HEAP
53. Persuade gently : COAX
54. Former soldier, briefly : EX-GI
55. Lays eyes on : SEES
59. Outlawed pesticide : DDT
One last song.
Argyle
38 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks, Gail, Bruce and Santa!
(Gail also has one at NetWord!)
No problems whatsoever!
Am listening to "Maria"--really love Bernstein and Carreras! Thanks!
Cheers!
A DAY AT THE RACES, no doubt,
Will include a chat with a tout.
He'll tell you the HORSE
To bet on, of course --
IF the JOCKEY can find the right route!
Alas for poor Miss ANITA!
She died from a bad margarita!
A MINT JULEP to savor
In time might have saved her,
Her last words were, "Waiter, I need a..."
The tales told by that LIAR, RORY
Were often quite old and quite hoary.
And it was no contest
That all of his conquests
Were women who were known to be whorey!
{A, A, A.} consistent, if not exemplary.
Hello Puzzlers -
I had Roll before Rota; the latter is unfamiliar. It seems like a word we'd have had before, but I don't recall it.
As many times as we've had Rory, I ought to be able to remember. Nope. Otherwise, smooth sailing.
Morning, Argyle! Glad your track losses were zero.
There at the top of the list
Was the young stallion Nyquist
He shot from the gate
Afraid he would . be late
His victory not to be missed
Not sure why but this took longer than most Mondays. Maybe unexpected words like MACABRE and EROTICA...
A timely theme and a great ride Argyle; and you did not need to use the whip
Hi Y'all! Finally, a Gail & Bruce puzzle which came easy! Fun and fast to finish Derby weekend. Thanks, Argyle, the music was also great!
Very apt puzzle since there's been a lot of horsing around this weekend. Since Nyquist won as the favorite, the race itself was almost anticlimactic. I also watched the tail end of an equestrian meet Sunday. The jumping is always fun to see. I have to strain hard to get the horse over every bar. Quite tiring really.
I had only a couple hesitations: __MINOR which I started with "A" then hit paydirt with "B".
Quilting squares: I tried SQUARES then PieCES which didn't fit. I think of PATCHES as the hundreds of pieces I put on jeans knees. I don't think of PATCHES in association with quilts. I know some are called PATCHwork quilts. There was a quilt show outside in a strip mall this weekend. I looked as we drove by. I cringed at all those quilts hung outdoors getting traffic dirt on them.
Ha, what timing! Just the other day, I got Come What May posted on my web site, just under the wire. I'll defer further comments about today's Grabowski/Venzke collaboration until you've had a chance to take a track (sic) at it.
Good morning!
Shot myself in the foot with NEUTRAL where NOT SURE needed to go. That put a real crimp in my solving time this morning. Down further I saw a few of the letters at 50a and immediately completed A DAY AT THE RACES without reading the clue. Noticed the theme only after I'd finished.
Argyle, are you sure there wasn't some ulterior motive in your "Santa" ANITA observation?
Interesting that JAG-wahr is back so soon for an encore performance.
Morning, all!
Overslept this morning due to a problem with the alarm and I've been playing catch up ever since...
I found this one to be a bit slower than normal for a Monday, but not too bad. The cross-referential clue at 1A made me grit my teeth a tad, but I finally gave in and looked at the other clue to figure it out.
Weirdest moment came when I saw the clue for STAG ("Party lacking ladies") and interpreted it to mean ladies that lacked a party instead of the other way around. It was like the bicycle chain in my brain slipped a gear or something. Fortunately, that didn't last long, but still...
An interesting puzzle, especially for a Monday. Thanks for the music, Santa.
Good limericks, all of you. I like limericks that scan.
I find it interesting that often the biggest LIARs call everyone else liars. We used to say it takes one to know one.
Today is Alan's birthday, my all time best Mother's day gift. He always wants money and a trip to two malls to shop with it. Alan loves to eat out, so we have all 3 meals out on his birthday. The gift of time is often better than luxuries. A big plus today is that his legs have stopped aching, at least for now. There is only the back ache to contend with.
CC, from last night. If you are thinking of duplicating the miso shiru soup served in Japanese sushi restaurants you need to make it with dashi as the broth. I make my own with a square of kombu (dried kelp) and dried bonito flakes. (It does not taste fishy.) Dashi only takes a short time to make. Some people make instant dashi with hondashi granules, katsuo dashi liquid concentrate, or dashi no moto, tea bad type packets. I use shiru or white miso, some people use aki or red miso, or mix it half and half. I add sliced scallions and tofu dices at the end. All this is available in many Asian markets here.
I had a good time and learned ROTA (not ROLL) in Bruce and Gail’s fun Monday offering.
Musings
-A town 10 miles from here just voted down a $300,000,000 plant for processing HENS for Costco
-An unbelievable RORY (1:42) shot landing spot
-Storage UNITS are everywhere around here. People have lots of stuff!
-I loved the LIAR clip in your write-up, Argyle
-I blogged Mumbai resident Parikshit Sreedhara Bhat’s puzzle last Wednesday
-How would you feel if you had to ENTER the ring against this guy?
-It wasn’t AVON but I did do door-to-door sales for a few years supplementing my teacher salary. Talk about hating your work!
-If IF’s and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas
-MIDtown Omaha has moved 50 blocks west since my childhood
-MACABRE - (a) muh-kah-bruh, (b) muh-kahb, or (c) muh-kah-ber?
-I suspect a STAG party can be “Lacking” or “Packing” ladies
A fun Monday level outing from Gail and Bruce, a cross referenced opener notwithstanding. The theme was pretty obvious without the reveal, but that tied it up with a bow.
I've always like the word macabre (B pronunciation, Gary). Don't know that I've eve seen it in a puzzle.
Thanks Argyle.
Great musical selections to start the week.
Argyle: Nice write-up & links. Good Job!
Gail & Bruce: Thank You for a FUN Monday puzzle with a timely theme.
Fave today, of course was that MINT JULEP ... though KEG was pretty close.
Cheers!
Good morning everyone.
Easy solve and timely theme. No searches needed. Liked the COAT clue.
LEST We Forget - is a monthly feature in US Naval Institute Proceedings, my first 'go to' article when a new issue arrives.
BERG - Not just an Arctic hazard. In Spring of the year they are found as far south as 42º N Latitude in the N. Atlantic. See 09 May 2016 Iceberg Analysis.
Steve M - welcome aboard.
Really enjoyed this one especially after yesterday!
Really nice MONDAY, MONDAY puzzle by Gail and Bruce. Nice start to the week. Argyle's expo and music picks were spot on.
Breezed through it with only a few hiccups. Like others I had ROLL before perps fixed ROTA and I needed BRER to get the key for BMINOR and JONI to figure it was MINOR and not MAJOR. Other than that it was a speed run today. I better enjoy it today, because by Friday it will be a lot rougher.
YR it's great that you can go out for breakfast, lunch and dinner for Alan's birthday. This year I was at a loss for ideas for my DW's birthday, so we went out for dinner every night during her birthday week. We've reached the stage where we don't need STUFF, but time and fun together is precious. Enjoy.
Nice weather today, hope your's is good.
Good Morning:
Gail and Bruce never disappoint so this was an easy peasy Monday solve. For some strange reason, I tried to fill in A Night at The Races; have no idea where that came from. I've always like the word "macabre."
Thanks, B and G, for a pleasant start to the week and thanks, Argyle, for the guided tour.
Enjoyed a nice Mother's Day dinner at my sister Peggy's. Her children did all of the prep and cooking and clean up. Unfortunately, Peggy's husband is still in the hospital after a set-back from carotid artery surgery last Monday, so it was a bitter-sweet day. (It was also the 35th anniversary of my mother's passing.)
YR, please wish Alan a very Happy Birthday. I'm glad he is doing better for his sake, as well as your own.
Welcome to the Corner, Steve M.
Have a great day.
Aw C'mon, do I have to link it...
have a big Happy Birthday Allen!
"Puzzling thoughts":
Argyle, I loved your horse racing allusions; they were very subtly texted. Alas, my DAY AT THE RACES came up a length and a half short when Exaggerator failed to beat NYQUIST. Oh well; maybe the positive will be seeing another Triple Crown winner this year. None of the other horses seem to be Nyquist's equal right now
Today's puzzle was pretty easy and was solved top to bottom, left to right. The last entry was DDT (59d). Nice theme and clues/solves - a bit too easy for a Saturday and probably why it wasn't slotted into the puzzle page on May 7 - Derby Day.
So today's limerick from me isn't themed around horse racing, but I did use a word from the puzzle. YR, I has trouble making the last line "scan"...
On Titantic the guests had some drinks
After hitting the ice BERG methinks;
Rotund singer sang hits
Without fear, knowing it's
Not over til the fat lady sinks!
Timely puzzle for a quick and fun solve! Thanks Gail and Bruce. Argyle, your musical links bring joy.
Owen, I'd say A+ to all of them! Scanning is fine, but clever is better.
PK, I wondered at the Quilting question, also. I've been quilting for eons but I've never heard a square called a patch. Patchwork quilts are mostly made of non-square pieces. Ah well, minor nit....and I got the answer without trouble from perps. No harm no foul.
For all of you Derby losers, don't feel bad. My horse came in 8th...I think. Who's counting at that point?
This was a quick RACE to the finish line today. Thank you, Gail and Bruce! And thanks, Argyle for the winning musical links and your analyses which are always TREATS.
MINT JULEP is so much in the culture and associated with the Kentucky Derby that filling it was immediate and led me to trot right along to the end. No problem with ROTA; perps filled it. The same with BMINOR.
MACABRE is a great word with B pronunciation, Gary, please.
YR:
Please give Alan my wishes for a wonderful birthday! It sounds delicious.
Have a beautiful Monday, everyone! We're having delightful spring weather here.
Hi everybody. My wife and a couple of her buddies are avid quilters. When they're working on a square that's a section of a quilt, it's always called a 'block', not a PATCH. No big deal but ...
Have you seen any of the videos or photos of Mercury's transit of the sun right now?
SwampCat, I agree that clever is better in general. However, in the case of a limerick in particular, I think scanning is critical too.
Nice to get a doable and fun Monday puzzle this morning after the toughies at the end of last week. Also liked the horse race theme coming so soon after the Derby. So, many thanks, Gail and Bruce, and great pics, Argyle.
Glad you had a nice Mother's Day at Peggy's, Irish Miss.
Happy Birthday, Alan.
I'm giving my first lecture in two years this afternoon on the 1967 film by Joseph Strick of James Joyce's "Ulysses." Hope I do a good job.
Have a great day, everybody.
Fun puzzle. I didn't even see ROTA because I already had the acrosses filled, so that issue never arose. I also like the word macabre and I pronounce it the "B" way. It always makes me think of Saint-Saens Dance Macabre which I like. Every time I see the Charles Dickens character Mr. Micawber I chuckle because it makes me think of, well you know.
Argyle, thanks for letting your sense of humor shine in your writeups.
Best wishes to you all.
Always a pleasure to wake up to a Monday morning with a Gail& Bruce puzzle. Rota and the B in B minor were my only hesitations. Thanks for the write up, Argyle.
I've never had a mint julep, but knew it is "the drink" if you are watching the Derby, so as soon as I filled track,it helped fill the Marx brother's movie that I've never heard of.
Hope all of you moms and grandma's had a lovely day. We were greeted with a sunny (but windy) beach day, and extra excitement when a bunch of otters were frolicking in a small kelp bed very close to the shore.
I agree with your "it takes one to know one" definition of a liar, YR. Actually, that is true with most faults that we see in others. Sometimes, whatever drives us crazy in others is the very same "problem" that we might have.We try to teach our children not to repeat our faults, but unfortunately they learn from watching us, not by what we say.
JD:
Such wise words!
Irish Miss: The Marx movie A DAY AT THE RACES had a sequel, A Night At The Opera.
MACABRE -- [b] muh-kahb is best, but if I needed the rhyme, I'd use [a] muh-kah-bruh in a poem. [c] muh-kah-ber? Never!
About MacHine, would you pronounce it Mac Hin (short i), Mac Hin (long i), or Mac Hiney?
Thank you all for Alan's birthday wishes. He loved the cake, Dave. He enjoyed shopping the malls, although he didn't buy much. He will save most of his money for extras from now until Christmas, including T-shirts at our vacation destinations.
Moe, your limerick made me laugh out loud. All is forgiven.
Jayce, I too, am a fan of Saint-Saens Dance Macabre.
It is only fair for me to exclaim over the beautiful skies and just right temperatures (68-70) today, after moaning about the weeks long drizzle. What a delightful day!
Thanks for the musical treats, Argyle, especially the Fugue for Tinhorns, one of my favorite openings to one of my favorite shows.
Yellowrocks, please add my good wishes to Alan on his birthday!
A slightly tough Monday pzl today. Not seriously daunting, but I had to scribble over a couple of answers when my first response was off. One was when I started to enter TRACKING instead of TRACK ONES, and the other was going with REW instead of REC. I was quickly held in check by perps.
I miss my old JAGuars. It was always my car of choice, despite its long mid-period high repair needs. I loved the car since my student days in England. I learned that you can never persuade a Jag owner of the folly of keeping up a car that came with faulty wiring and a variety of other ailments. It was the history and aesthetics that kept us loyal.
Alas! I gave up my last model, an outdated but reliable black Sovereign, four years ago. After smacking a couple of other cars (no one injured, thank goodness!) I decided it was time to hang up my spurs. I no longer drive, by choice. I gave my black beauty to Kars 4Kids and thought I had heard the last of it. A couple of years later I got a formal letter from the San Diego police, saying they were alerting me, as the last registered owner, that I might want to know that my ex-Jag had been found abandoned near the Mexican border. If I didn't respond they would confiscate it.
I didn't respond. I only hope the "Kids" got their value from the donation.
OwenKL @ 1:08 - I guess I got my days and nights and races and operas mixed up! Thanks for clarifying.
Misty, I hope your lecture went well.
BTW, the editor of USA Today's puzzles, the one who was accused of plagiarism awhile back, received a slap on the wrist, IMO, in the form of a three month's suspension. His superiors acknowledged several cases where there was "wrong doing" but, now, better mechanisms will be put in place so such "errors" won't happen again. I really don't understand how someone could deliberately steal someone else's work.
Guys and Dolls, one of the great old shows with classic songs. I'm so bad I'd rather see it again than any of the new hit Broadway shows.
Additional happy birthday wishes for Alan.
I like the USA Today CW puzzles better under the new editor in addition to the fact that the former editor was seemingly a "wrong-doer." I'd like to see them keep Fred Piscop.
I always enjoy watching the Kentucky Derby. The hats are fun, I enjoy listening to the singing of My Old Kentucky Home even with modified lyrics and the horse race is often exciting even though I don't play the ponies. Years ago, I took Barbara to Santa Anita. I bet $2 on several favorites and didn't win a penny. When we left, I couldn't find our car in the parking lot. I finally figured out we'd come out on the wrong side of the venue. They wouldn't let us come back in to walk across to the other side so we had to walk around. It's HUGE! It took us most of an hour to walk a couple of miles around the parking lot. Rats! I wish I coulda been there to see Silky Sullivan make one of his patented runs from 30 lengths behind.
Happy birthday to Alan! May it be a pain-free day.
Gary, that shot of Rory's is unbelievable! I've heard of "pocket pool" but never "pocket golf". Glad the rules didn't require him to hit it from the landing place. Ow!
Yesterday, I got to see the video of my grandson's skate board accident. I wish I hadn't. There is no doubt that the helmet saved his life since he landed shoulders & head first. How he kept from having a broken neck, I don't know. I think the skate board is now in his past. His father told him "The world needs more smart people, not another skateboard dude." I thought that a few years when his dad was so proud of his son's skateboard tricks. Thank God he seems to be fine now.
Hola Everyone, Just a couple of glitches today. REW instead of REC and Raved instead of Raged. Both were fixed quickly with the downs that were filled in later.
Rota was a learning moment today. I'm familiar with Roster and Roll. Neither fit correctly. I always put a new word like this in my own dictionary. Whether it will be used later only time will tell.
JD, My mother used to say, "Do as I say, not as I do." Unfortunately children are very good at watching your actions! Wise words.
I loved the Mint Julep clue. I polish and price the antique silver that comes into our Thrift Shop. I had a large round sterling silver pierced spoon shaped strainer come in just this last week. I looked and looked for one similar under "Tea Strainer". It wasn't a tea strainer. I finally found it under bar ware. It was a Julep Strainer. I've never heard of this particular barware piece, but there it was on E-bay and it was expensive, even on E-bay.
Have a great day, everyone.
OwenKL, actually "Night at the Opera" came first, "Races" followed. Along with Duck Soup, those films were the peak of their art. They also did "A Night in Casablanca"
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALAN!!!! I hope it was a great day for you!!!!
Hi All!
Thanks Rich for dropping this puzzle the Monday after the RACES. Thanks Gail & Bruce for a bit of a crunch to the day. And, of course, thanks Argyle for the musical EXPO.
WOs: UP Tick b/f UPTURN @24a (don't judge -HINDi EXISTs as a word :-)); ExOTICA b/f EROTICA (read neither); Hand up for REw.
ESP: ROTA.
Fav: NOT SURE. The theme is awesome - esp. w/ the extra SOs to the Derby (I'm not a fan of the ponies but I appreciate it). The programmer in me wants Sloppy stack == HEAP @52d (both data-structures), but I have to go w/ c/a @61a. It's just too cute.
YR - WEES. ++HBD wishes to Alan. Glad to hear he's pain free. I know that's an ease for you too.
IM - Funny (peculiar not ha-ha), I wanted A DAY AT THE opera. Thanks OKL & bill-O for the learnin'-me-moment(s). The only Night AT THE opera I know has a Bicycle RACE (Qween) on it.
From last night: Welcome Steve M. I've been doing xwords in earnest for ~9 years now. Fridays are usually beyond me and Sats are right-out. I like doing pzls on paper in ink so I know what I know / don't know. I'll look up something late in the week if I'm mostly done and need to break small white-sea. Otherwise, I'll TITT (throw in the towel), look to the Corner's host, and crib & learn.
HG - option b) out-loud; in my head, Mah-Kahb-Rae.
Cheers, -T
billocohoes: Thanks for the correction!
I don't seem to have trapped anyone. Most people would pronounce M-a-c, H-i-n-e, as ma-sheen.
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