Theme: D/J - Phrases starting with D and J.
17A. Hardcover protector : DUST JACKET
25A. Improvisational music style developed in 14-Across : DIXIELAND JAZZ
43A. Local jurist : DISTRICT JUDGE
58A. Maneuver that captures two checkers : DOUBLE JUMP
10D. Guy's breakup letter : DEAR JANE
37D. Clerical office positions : DESK JOBS
47D. Wedding music provider ... and a homophonic hint to six puzzle answers : DEEJAY
Argyle here with Lila Cherry(Really Rich). It seems a simple theme is acceptable if there is enough of it. All the J's are accounted for but there are some free-range D's out there. Tom Joad is a T/J. A nice mix of new and old with even a unique three-letter entry, TCB.
Across:
1. "Pardon me ... " : "AHEM ... "
5. __ Madness: fruity Snapple flavor : MANGO
10. Info that isn't as dumb as it sounds : DOPE
14. Mardi Gras city acronym : NOLA. (New Orleans, Louisiana)
15. University founder Yale : ELIHU
16. Quaint "Yikes!" : "EGAD!"
19. One on your side : ALLY
20. Old show showings : RERUNS
21. Josephine, for one : EMPRESS. Josephine Bonaparte wearing her signature gown.
23. Dictator Amin : IDI. Third President of Uganda, ruling from 1971 to 1979.
24. Noun following a vb., usually : OBJect
32. Cat covering : FUR
33. East, to Eduardo : ESTE
34. Orderly : NEAT plus 7D. Suffix with 34-Across : NIK
36. Apple tablet : iPAD
38. Handled things somehow : COPED
39. Stonestreet of "Modern Family" : ERIC. Cam on the show.
40. Heredity unit : GENE
41. x or y, in plane geometry : AXIS
42. Planet, in verse : ORB
48. Divided Asian country: Abbr. : KORea
49. Miner's objective : ORE
50. "The Grapes of Wrath" protagonist : TOM JOAD
54. Boring tools : AUGERS
57. Small Chevy model : AVEO
61. Low-__ diet : CARB
62. Outie's opposite : INNIE. Belly buttons.
63. Natural skin soother : ALOE
64. Bullfight cheers : OLÉs
65. Brewery kilns : OASTS
66. Thief who doesn't need the combination : YEGG. Safecracker.
Down:
1. Also : AND
2. Time of day : HOUR
3. "Anything __?" : ELSE
4. Dot-__ printer : MATRIX
5. Malicious one : MEANIE
6. Oct. baseball semifinal : ALCS. (American League Championship Series)
8. Indian butter : GHEE
9. No longer in style : OUTMODED
11. Gawk at : OGLE
12. Buddies : PALS
13. "Grand" ice cream brand : EDYS
18. Dame Dench : JUDI
22. Sandwich with Jif and Welch's, for short : PBJ. (peanut butter and jelly)
25. Fooled : DUPED
26. Pakistani neighbor : IRANI
27. Eleventh of 13 popes : LEO XI
28. Savory gelatin : ASPIC
29. H-bomb trial, e.g. : N-TEST
30. Weightlessness cause, briefly : ZERO G
31. Congo, formerly : ZAIRE
32. Newton fruit : FIG
35. Getting it done, initially : TCB. "Taking Care of Business"
38. Music provider on the road : CAR RADIO
44. Also : TOO
45. Units of energy : JOULES. Previous expo, 8-Across
46. Strongly suggest : URGE
50. Mexican snack in a shell : TACO
51. Track shape : OVAL
52. Nothing but : MERE
53. Spanish lady : DONA
54. Not much : A BIT
55. __ of thumb : RULE
56. City skyline obscurer : SMOG
59. Young __: tots, in dialect : 'UNS. Often spelt as one word, young'uns.
60. Tent stake : PEG
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
I finally met with Jeffrey Wechsler yesterday at the Fifth MN Crossword Tournament. As Gary said in a Facebook comment "Fiendish Jeff Wechsler even looks human!" Jeffrey flew in from New Jersey to volunteer for the event. Jeffrey was also a judge for the ACPT the past few years. We managed to talk a little shop while he was busy working for the tournament.
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| David Liben-Nowell, Tom Pepper, Jeffrey Wechsler, David Hanson & C.C. |
It was also fun discussing crosswords with the brilliant local constructors: Tom Pepper (Mr. Minnesota Nice), Marcia Brott (We had her puzzle three months ago), Victor Barocas (our hard-working editor), David Hanson (He used to comment on our blog with the handle Rosebud), Andrew J. Ries (so incredibly talented. Click here to subscribe to his weekly puzzle) & David Liben-Nowell (He has a LAT themeless coming up).
Don Gagliardo, Andrea Carla Michaels & David Steinberg all contributed puzzles but could not make the trip. George Barany was traveling in CA. You were all missed.
Mike Weepie won the tournament. Eric Maddy came in second. Carl Voss third. Below are a few pictures. You can click here for more.
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| David Hanson,Victor Barocas, C.C. & Andrew J. Ries |
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| Victor & Eric Maddy |
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| David Bael, Marcia and Tom |
49 comments:
Quick hello from California, where my daughter Deborah graduated yesterday from UCSB.
Thanks C.C. for the report and pictures about the Minnesota tournament, which sounds like it was a big success, and congratulations to all involved! My friend @Chris Adams won the Amateur division. Enjoy his Complex Fruits, a smaller-than-usual, far-from-complex offering that might bring back fond memories of college math classes.
{B, C, C+.}
The Dessert Jew restaurant was kosher pure
On special was always the same soup Du Jour!
They'd make the broth thicken
With ASPIC and chicken,
Whatever ails you, it's the guaranteed cure!
DONA Juan was worried what the future would augur,
So she had her tools ready, her Drill Jig and AUGER.
She'd been once lost at sea
'Twould be Double Jeopardy
If this ship TOO, showed her Davy Jones' locker!
Jorge was determined to invent a new TACO,
So he piled it with fruit, papaya and MANGO.
Instead of hot sauce (OLE!)
He spread P.B.& J. --
To COPE with the tummy-aches, he topped it with ALOE!
Greetings!
Thanks, Rich and Santa!
Nice work!
Only ALCS was perped.
Cheers!
Hi Y'all! No circles no problem! Forgot to look for theme on this fun speed run. Thanks Rich & Argyle!
Never drank Snapple so MANGO was ESP along with GHEE which we've had but I forgot.
Never saw the clue for KORea.
Morning, all!
No circles, as usual, but they were completely unnecessary to get the theme today, so that was nice. Mostly a speed run, but I almost crashed and burned at ERIC/TCB crossing. Didn't know either one, but thought that ERIC/TCB looked more likely than, say, ERIK/TKB, ERIQ/TQB or ERIN/TNB.
George (and Christopher): I think you grossly overestimate the mathematical knowledge of the non-academic! I was once a math major in college (tho admittedly didn't finish), and I don't understand 3 out of 4 of the theme entries! The purple one I knew, and I can guess at parts of the green and bottom yellow, but I'm totally at sea with 18, 23, 28, 38, 54 across, and 27, 42, 43 down. Also a few others, but they were non-math, so legit late-week crossword fare.
On a more positive note, I appreciated the comments on the grid, and the clue for 52a was particularly delightful!
Same logic as Barry G.
This was more of a struggle than a normal Monday. With Barry; never heard of TCB, but guessed Eric. Overall, fun CW, thanx, Lila! And nice write-up, thanx, Argyle! Owen, A, C+, C-. Thanx for the daily grin!
Good morning!
Anybody else see "____ Madness" and immediately enter MARCH? Gotta learn to read the entire clue. D'oh! Never heard of a "Dear Jane" letter, but it was inferable. Same experience with ERIC/TCB as Barry and Hungry Mother. I think Rich is trying to raise the bar on Mondays. Successful.
Argyle, those oasts look like a coven of witches! And thanx for parsin' ALCS.
George, congrats on your daughter's graduation.
C.C., great shots of the tournament! It's always nice to put a face with the constructor's name. That one photo, though, has 6 people, but only 5 names??? I think we're missing the name of the woman at the column.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Lila Cherry, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
C.C.: Liked the photos of the tournament players. Interesting.
Zipped through this pretty quickly. Caught the theme, even though I had no circles.
36A had me thinking a minute. Then I realized I was typing on an IPAD. Duh.
I will never be on a low-CARB diet. I love potatoes. My favorite food.
ELIHU was easy once I had the E.
Got down into the 50's last night in PA. Comfortable. Today I hope to get my wife's cousin's hot water heater all back together and operational. Got the pilot light yesterday. Major accomplishment, after pulling out the burner and all the other guts. Now I have to reconnect it to the water lines, add a gas shut-off valve, etc.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Blasted through pretty fast. I knew 39A was Eric or Erik. But have never see 35D shortened to TCB.
Lots of themage put in this puzzle - but still a Monday quick run. I don't think this puzzle had circles- I think Argyle put them in for the blog to clarify the theme.
WEES about TCB - only seen that with the Y added for the frozen yogurt place- but I'm not of the multiple abbreviation text generation. I only use a few, and still not sure if I'm using them correctly - but my kids get a kick out of me trying.
Thanks Argyle and Rich!
Yes, I added the circles.
Hi all. Good morning. Thanks Rich. Thanks Argyle.
TCB ? No sweat.
The Queen of Soul sang 50 years ago, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me. Take care, TCB. Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me..."
A few years later, Bachman Turner Overdrive with their hard driving rock song "Takin' Care of Business"
Argyle: Nice write-up and informative links.
D-O Yup! I entered "MARCH" Madness without thinking ... seemed natural to me.
Then that CSO NEAT and Neat-NIK forced me to get MANGO.
(Like PK, I'm not a Snapple fan).
GHEE was ESP ... I know I know it ... but I will forget it (again!) next time it shows up.
The weather is perfect ... but it is just kinda difficult to smile today in Florida.
All my Sunset Toasts are to my Orlando friends this week.
Cheers!
Just read that Elvis had a motto of TCB, and that his backing band became known as the TCB Band...
Desper-otto, yes, hand up for almost entering March. Your sports knowledge is expanding exponentially !
Good Morning!
Thanks, Lila for a speedy Monday fun run. Didn't see the theme until the reveal, but that was fine. I did pretty well on my first run across so I missed some of the clever downs.
Thank you, Argyle for your explication. Have to run: TCB!!!
Enjoy the day!
Good morning everyone.
Fun solve - knew about Lila Cherry - no matter. The DJ theme sped things along. Aided TCB. ELIHU crops up with Messrs. Root and Yale.
INNIE - Had an outie for the longest time. Underwent ventral hernia repair last year and now have an INNIE. Surgeon was adamant to have me wear bandage w/ large cotton ball for several weeks. I know; TMI.
NOLA - We have eaten at Emeril's NOLA restaurant in NOLA. A great experience with wonderful food and super service.
Good Morning:
This was a typical easy-breezy Monday with a fairly obvious but fun theme and fill. TCB is new to me but I knew Eric was correct so I let it stand; it makes sense, I just never saw it before. I filled in March without any hesitation; Snapple has never been in my world; I'm a Pepsi person. (And a Dewar's damsel, though not in distress!)
Thanks, Ms. Cherry, for a fun run and thanks, Argyle, for the expo. (This was the first Monday in a while that it wasn't a Janice Lutrell offering.) Thanks to CC, for the commentary and photos from the Tournament. It's nice to see some of our constructors' faces. Leave it to Boomer to pose with that imp, Lucy!
If anyone watches Major Crimes, the new season begins tonight. Murder In The First returns next Sunday.
Have a great day.
Isn't "Eleventh" a bit of a foul in the clue for LEO XI?
"Puzzling Thoughts":
A few ink blots here and there but I solved it from top to bottom, left to right, with relative ease.
The solves (answers) weren't "Monday-like", but the time to complete the puzzle was. Goes to show that you can have an interesting theme and set of clues/solves without being overly difficult
SO to Ron with the second word in 25a??!
Congrats to the Pgh Penguins for winning Lord Stanley's Cup for the IVth time. 13 professional championships in Pittsburgh in my lifetime!
George Barany @4:42 - congrats to your daughter graduating from UCSB. The school had another cause for celebration yesterday when their men's baseball team defeated UL with a walk-off grand slam home run, and win a trip to Omaha for the College World Series. Go Gauchos!
Anonymous at 8:59 - agree that the clueing for 27d could've been better - maybe: "one of the numbered Popes" ...
Loved the puzzle.................especially when I beat my husband by 20 minutes
Ah, it's Monday. Good one Rich. I had it mostly done on the across clues with a few exceptions. Then the perps helped fill those in. Liked Argyle's write up. I had the puzzle done without trying to figure out the theme.
I've never watched "Modern Family" so I didn't know who the actor was, but I figured it had to be eriC, eriK or eriN. Also it didn't dawn on me that "taking care of business" was the answer for "Getting it Done." So that left me with a WAG. I figured ERIC was the most probable answer, so I put it in and got the puzzle done.
I don't know anything about Snapple flavors. I could see MARCH Madness as an ice cream flavor, but it didn't seem right to be a drink flavor, so I left it blank and let the perps fill it in.
Gotta go fix the shower door seal. Fun day ahead.
Have a great one everybody.
AHEM ... couple of additional comments.
C.C. Thank You for the photos and commentary from the Minnesota Crossword Tournament.
Looks like everyone had a wonderful time!
Chairman Moe @9:16
Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins on winning their 4th Stanley's Cup.
(Kinda makes the Lightning loss to the Champions A-BIT easier).
Though "in-nature" I doubt the penguins would prevail over the Sharks. lol
One of my sons went with many of his friends to college in Orlando. The mother of our summer intern works in the hospital next to the nightclub and was locked in. This one hits very close to home. Senseless, meaningless violence. Very sad.
Always interesting to see a Rich Norris offering. It certainly provides a complete perspective of a puzzle acceptable to him. I would have liked DUSTIN JOHNSON as a central 13 letter them fill, DIXIELAND JAZZ is a legitimate phrase but I do not believe most say more than DIXIELAND. Does an Arabic numeral conflict with a Roman one?
PBJ- TCB (all BTO for me) thanks for the Joules SO, Argyle.
Congrats George B.
Peace all
Speaking of MANGO Madness, I made my first attempt last night to make MANGO Lassis for the family. We always like drinking them at Indian restaurants, and I figured they couldn't be that hard to make... I didn't have any fresh (extremely ripe) mangoes, but I did have some mango juice made with mango pulp, water and sugar that I picked up at the Chinese market we shop at. Some unsweetened low-fat yoghurt, a little milk, lots of mango juice and a little cardamon just for the heck of it, and voila! Came out pretty good, although it could've probably used some more mango. Next time, I'll go with the mango nectar instead of the mango juice.
Ah well, at least I finally had an excuse to open the blender we got 13 years ago for our wedding... ^_^
Thanks for the fun, Lila (Rich) and Argyle. This one filled in quickly and I did not even see UNS and the wonderful JUDI. I got the theme early in the game.
The mid-East was my downfall. WBS about TCB. I also had trouble with ZERO G, not seeing the 2 parts. I tried Outdated before OUTMODED.
Here is a link for BTO
BTOTakingCareOfBusiness
AS A RULE I complete the CW on my IPAD. OASTS and YEGG were on my original written list of common CW answers.
I had the same thought as Anon@8:59 about the Eleventh clue.
Enjoy the day.
I wonder if in the wild Sharks would think that Penguins taste like Chicken?
I remember hearing TCB back in 1996 on October 3 during an episode of 'Seinfeld'.
Watch it here @ 0.44
Whew! Thanks for your admission, Argyle. I was momentarily upset at my newspaper for omitting the circles. In any case, they weren't necessary for the solve and DJ soon became apparent.
MARCH madness?? That never came close and though I don't drink Snapple, MANGO immediately came to mind. It all was a very quick sashay with no problems. Once in a while I watch Modern Family and knew ERIC Stonestreet who won an EMMY for his performance. Actually, maybe more than one.
Thanks for explaining TCB and ALCS which meant nothing to me.
C.C.:
The tournament sounds like great fun and a nerdfest with all you excellent constructors in attendance. Great pictures, thank you.
Have a beautiful day, everyone! Wishing all in Orlando and in fact, Florida, peace amid the angst.
D-Otto,
I just heard back from David Liben-Nowell. The lady is Cathy Long, she's a solver and a wonderful friend of David's.
"Taking' Care of Business" Bachman Turner Overdrive has been added to the write-up. It didn't feel right not having music on a Monday.
Tin @ 9:42
I know you had to have had mixed feelings about the Pen's winning the SC. I think once they got past your Lightning, their confidence was pretty high. Odd that in each of their four SC's, Pittsburgh has yet to clinch the Cup on their home ice (oops, I said a bad word there, didn't I?!) ;^)
oc4beach @ 10:24
Too funny! Other than the alliteration, I've always wondered why Pittsburgh would choose the Penguin as their mascot / nickname for the hockey team; perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the nickname for the Civic Arena was "The Igloo", and that was where they were going to play. The penguin is pretty slow; not sure it can even fly. And it hardly evokes any of the adjectives one might use to describe the sport of hockey . . .
Easy-peasy Monday puzzle, nicely constructed and clued.
Do these daily and often get very agrivated with 2 &3 word answers, but today was exceptional! Really enjoyed the DJ theme. Very clever! For an average IQ person Like me, your puzzle was perfect. Thank you CC very much.
Cool puzzle. Filled mostly by acrosses only, and missed seeing several of the down clues and answers.
Sorry our Sharks didn't make it all the way, but they did well! My wife is an avid soccer fan, and she used to play, coach, and ref, so we've been watching the Copa Americana (America Cup) futbol tournament. It's an exciting sport.
Dewar's damsel, cute nickname! Sounds much better than Macallen Man.
Best wishes to you all.
Musings
-Early tee time in the heat but glad I didn’t miss Rich’s clever Monday entry.
-JUDGE Persky is in the eye of the storm
-Some ALLIES may just be looking to see which way the wind is blowing
-Low brow me had this Josephine first and her job fit
-Multiple Emmy winner ERIC is fabulous on Modern Family
-My school had a mostly OUTMODED DOT-MATRIX printer for carbon/contact copies
-A PB&J without Skippy? Are we savages? ☺
-Being in ZERO-G on the ISS for a year wreaks havoc on your body
-Symbol on Elvis’s plane, the Lisa Marie
-I too was surprised “Lila” gave us _ _ _ XI
-Omaha is ready for the Gauchos, Moe!!
A handsome bunch of cruciverbalists! Thanks for the photos!
A neat pzl today, well-balanced between theme and follow-through. Thank you, Ms. Cherry, and thanks to Argyle for the write-up.
What was my favorite word today? Hmm. Oh, yes, AUGERS - without a doubt. I first came across it in reading Hamlet in school. In this passage:
We defy augury. There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow....
In reading on, and through the years, I find this prose passage, which comes late in the play after so many exhaustive trials, very likely to be Shakespeare's most Zen-like speech of acceptance. These are the words before his fatal duel, when Hamlet runs through the many meanings of a sparrow's death, and ends by questioning what a man's early death might mean,
What is't to leave betimes?
... and answers with the memorable iamb,
Let be.
Chairman Moe @11:53
No "oops, I said a bad word there, didn't I!?!" needed. LOL
When "talking about hockey" ... even at Villa Incognito the use of the word, when referring to the surface skated upon, ... ICE is accepted/acceptable!
Just so long as the "drink" being enjoyed is NEAT !!!
oc4beach @10:24
I think the "in the wild Sharks" think Penguins taste like ... wait for it ... Penguins ...
Cheers!
Hello Puzzlers -
Hand up for March Madness. I don't know the Snapple varieties, mostly, but their peach is pretty tasty.
Howdy Argyle! Thanks for taking care of business today.
HG @ 3:25 - Not just the Gauchos, but also the Chanticleers from Coastal Carolina making their first appearance to Omaha. Haven't checked to see if they've played their game today, but if FSU beats FL, there will be no SEC team represented in the Final 8 - that's a rarity!
Tin @ 3:44 - Glad to know that the word ICE is allowed in some conversations at Villa Incognito!! ;^)
I've been doing a few limericks "off-line" today (most did not have any word or reference to today's puzzle), but I crafted one that does use a few of the words. Will see how many card players we have here at the Corner . . .
"Playing cribbage has quite the appeal;
Even when it's your opponent's deal."
Said the card-playing YEGG,
As he moved past their PEG,
When the other guy's crib he did steal!
The shark was stressed, to relieve the tension
He got him a Harley with a big-ass engine!
At a roadhouse the dickens
First tasted chickens,
AND remarked that they tasted A BIT like penguin!
Today's WSJ features a cw from John Lampkin. Easy enough and exhibits elements of John's whimsical style. One political zinger, tho, that I don't think Lila would have permitted.
Argyle and Canadian Eh, thanks for linking BTO's Takin' Care of Business.
Here's that hit from Aretha Respect [1967] (Original Version). An all time favorite for me. She starts spelling out Respect and TCB around the 1:50 mark.
"TCB" is an abbreviation, commonly used in the 1960s and 1970s, meaning "Taking Care (of) Business". It was particularly widely used in African-American culture." - Source Wikipedia wiki Respect_(song).
HG, good find on the Lisa Marie's tail !
Chairman Moe, how 'bout them Penguins ? They were in danger of not even making the playoffs but got in, got on a roll, and never looked back. One might say they had (Chairman) Moe mentum on their side.
Kudos to the Sharks. I'd have been pulling for them had they played anyone other than the Penguins. My nephew lives in San Jose. He and his buddy buy a pair of season tickets each year. Each gets both tickets for half of the home games, but they go to the playoffs together.
Great puzzle yesterday CC and JzB. The blogging was superb as well HG. I had a nit with the 2D clue/answer, but I argued both sides of the debate with myself and ended up choosing not to post.
TTP @ 5:18 - yeah, how 'bout dem Pens?!" As I mentioned in an earlier post, 13 Pro Sport Championships (6 Super Bowls, 4 Stanley Cups, 3 World Series) for the 'burgh in my lifetime, anyway. 1960 Bucs win over the Yankees was the one that kinda got me hooked on them; I was at Pitt for the 4 years prior to the Steelers winning their first Super Bowl, and the Penguins just sorta followed suit. All Black and Gold, baby!
Thanks, Rich, for a fast fun frolic. Easy for us Big Easy types with NOLA and DIXIELAND JAZZ. I got the theme early and roared to the finish. Argyle, your guided tour was also fun!
Owen, I thought EVERYTHING tastes like chicken. Hehehehe
TTP & Chairman Moe
I was watching the "Lord Stanley Cup Game" last night ....
but due to the event, in Orlando, a city I resided in for 28 months, in the "Met-West" area, a mile-and-a-half, due North of Universal ...
I just couldn't ... "Get-In-The-Game" ...
Well, when the Pen's scored the "empty-netter" ... with about a minute (barely-plus!) to go ...
... I then decided ...
... "I want the Penguins!!! to win ...
OK, was A-BIT off my usual "Sunday-Night-Game" ...
But when 49-Innocent-Kids get murdered ... (By an A**H***!!!!!!!)
I'm NOT into a Sport I Love ...
the Sunset Toast was ... tearful ...
Hi All!
WEES; a fun offering from Rich and solid writeup from Argyle.
WOs: TOO @1d only to find it Also @44d later, ADJ b/f OBJ, and I mess'ed up TOM's last name as JOde.
Fav: Having the DEE JAY remove the DUST JACKET to play some DIXIE LAND JAZZ on the CAR RADIO.
Runner-up: c/a for DOPE.
Back to work. Cheers, -T
Work is done and had time to click a link or three. George B - I fwd'd that article to Eldest who wants to persue forensic-psychology / neurobiology. Eldest will be a HS senior in the fall and went to "brain camp" at American U in DC last summer. You're daughter's story should be an inspiration to her. Thanks for sharing. C, -T
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