Theme: Mega Mix - Word scrambles
17A. Get-even competition : GRUDGE MATCH. The rematches between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fit nicely into this category. After Ali's sad passing last Friday, George Foreman related that Ali wanted George to come out of retirement so he could beat up Ken Norton for him. Fun stuff. And a great excuse for an iconic photograph taken by Neil Liefer:
24A. Kunta Kinte's country : THE GAMBIA. I confess I've never seen "Roots", so I needed crosses here. I'm looking forward to the new remake.
38A. They're often seen under hoods : GARAGE MECHANICS. I just got shot of my old car, my mechanic was spending more time with it that I was. I leased a "for fun" sports coupe that allegedly has a top speed of 160MPH. I need to take it to Germany to figure out if that's true.
50A. "I didn't get that" : COME AGAIN?
62A. Last-minute interception, say, and a hint to this puzzle's circles : GAME CHANGER. The famous last-second interception in Superbowl XLIX was an all-time doozy. I don't think Pete Carroll can still believe it happened.
Nice theme from Matt, and the themers all split the GAME scramble across two words. Nothing at all clunky in the fill, I thought this was very nice and smooth. A grid-spanner across the middle and a couple of long downs filled things out nicely. Let's take a look at what else jumps out.
Across:
1. Two cents : SAY. I had the S and decided on a whim that a SOU was a French coin worth two cents. I couldn't have been more 66% wrong.
4. Place for pews : SANCTUM. Nice! I'd never thought of a sanctum being anything other than an inner one, with secrets I'd never be privy to. NAVE is often the answer for this clue.
11. Hubcap holder : RIM
14. NASDAQ news : I.P.O. Initial Public Offering. Usually followed by Immediate Profit Offloading.
15. Awabi sushi mollusk : ABALONE. Food! Abalone in California are caught by hand, and there's a guy who fishes the Farallon Islands off San Francisco who shares the waters with between 30 and 100 Great White sharks depending on the time of year. He admits to being nervous at times.
16. Actress Brenneman : AMY
19. "Tell Me More" broadcaster : NPR
20. __ de Cervantes : MIGUEL. Of Don Quixote fame.
21. El stop: Abbr. : STA. Tried STN first. Got it wrong.
22. City SSE of Sana'a : ADEN
23. Bath oil additive : ALOE
26. Traffic slower : GLARE
29. Suffix in skin product names : DERM
30. Pressure letters : PSI Pounds per Square Inch.
32. Usual : NORM. Check out Norm drinking his usual in "Cheers".
34. Tests using mice : MAZES
42. "It's __ simple" : ALL SO
43. The other side of midnight? : NOON. Didn't think twice about this. I was on Matt's wavelength today.
44. __ reaction : GUT
45. Skated : SLID
48. Crammer's tablet : NO-DOZ. Last fill; I couldn't shake the "iPad" tablet thinking and then rumbled the pill angle. Too much caffeine gives me a migraine, not what you want when you're cramming.
54. One of a Social Security card pair : DASH 999-99-9999
57. Problem for Lady Macbeth : SPOT. She needed better detergent. What was that stuff we had on here last week - Soil-be-gone or something?
58. Unwritten parts of some addresses : UMS. We've all sat through extremes of the "Ladies and, um, gentlemen, um, thanks for um, coming today and um, um ....". Makes your toes curl.
59. Scarlet letter, e.g. : STIGMA. Had -IGMA so didn't stop to read the clue and just threw ENIGMA in. Went back and fixed that about a minute later.
61. Babe's environs : PEN. No crosses at the time, so impetuously STY went in.
64. Torah holder : ARK
65. Fallacious : IN ERROR
66. Cauliflower __ : EAR. Ali avoided these, as do many boxers nowadays. I think the referees are much more on guard for nefarious ear-abuse.
67. "Street Dreams" rapper : NAS
68. Droopy face feature : SAD EYES
69. Like about half the counties in Arkansas : DRY. Not going there on vacation, right, Tinbeni?
Down:
1. 18th Greek letter : SIGMA
2. 4, at times : APRIL. This clued me into the fact that SOU was a rather idiotic attempt to solve 1A.
3. Cry of support : YOU GO GIRL!
4. Herb in a ballad : SAGE. Food! Along with parsley, rosemary and thyme in "Scarborough Fair". Simon and Garfunkel got the pronunciation of the town mostly correct.
5. Genesis brother : ABEL
6. "We Were Soldiers" setting : NAM. From the book "We were soldiers once, and young" written by Harold Moore, the officer portrayed in the movie, and the amazing Vietnam news reporter Joe Galloway. Intense reading.
7. What stripes and polka dots do : CLASH. I think the yellow Bug clashes more with the pink purse, to be honest.
8. Added (up) : TOTTED. Is this British English? I've not heard it for a while.
9. Free, as a bird : UNCAGE. Love the clue.
10. "Does nothing for me" : MEH.
11. Anita Baker genre : R AND B. Rhythm and Blues. I always put an extra "y" in rhythm and then wonder why it looks wrong.
12. 1983 Pritzker prize recipient : I.M. PEI. Solid crosses.
13. Loy of "Thin Man" films : MYRNA Solid crosses!
18. Fight with rules : DUEL. Gadzoiks, ye bounder! Pistols at twenty paces!
22. Mideast capital : AMMAN
24. __ paper : TERM
25. Tycoon Hammer : ARMAND. Hall-of-fame name.
27. Its capital is Luanda : ANGOLA
28. Sushi topper : ROE. Food! Remind me to go get sushi this week, it's been way too long. I roll my own sometimes for parties:
30. Sports org. founded in 1916 : P.G.A.
31. Co-star of James and Natalie in "Rebel Without a Cause" : SAL. Mineo.
33. Wise __ : MEN ".. say, only fools rush in"
35. Went like lightning : ZIG-ZAGGED
36. Former French coin : ECU
37. 2003 retiree, briefly : SST. Supersonic Transports. It's a shame they retired the Concorde, but I lived under the Heathrow flight path in London for a few years and those things rattled the windows. They were LOUD.
39. Positive point : ASSET
40. Fifth state: Abbr. : CONN. Oh, so not COLOrado then? I guess not. Zero marks for history.
41. Half a beverage : HOO. Maybe this one might raise some eyebrows. Yoo-hoo is the beverage.
46. Reptile with a "third eye" : IGUANA. Wikipedia notes:
"A parietal eye, also known as a third eye or pineal eye, is a part of the epithalamus present in some animal species. The eye is photoreceptive and is associated with the pineal gland, regulating circadian rhythmicity and hormone production for thermoregulation.".
So there we have it. Now repeat back to me. "A parietal .....".
47. Blocked, beaver-style : DAMMED
49. God in both Eddas : ODIN. There are two Eddas? There I was, all smug because I knew there was (were)? an edda (eddas?) and now I find there are two varieties - the prose and the poetic. Cross "smug" off my list of boasts today.
50. Where to see the House : C-SPAN. Capital "H" warning - it's not what you think.
51. Dvorák's "Rusalka," for one : OPERA
52. Some ascetics : MONKS
53. Rhone tributary : ISÈRE. I skied many times in Val D'Isère, site of the 1992 Winter Olympics downhill races, so this came relatively easy (unlike the skiing). The river in the village was about <- yay -> wide and mostly frozen; I've jumped across it in ski boots. In spring with the snowmelt at the bottom of the valley in Moutiers, it was usually <^^^^^^^^^^^^^ YAY ^^^^^^^^^^^^> wide and happy to turn tour buses into cruise ships.
55. Sully : SMEAR. What you'd be if you missed a turn on the Val D'Isère Olympic course.
56. Bother no end : HARRY.
59. It's about a foot : SHOE
60. Works on roads : TARS. The Black Stuff.
62. PX patrons : GI'S
63. Blubber : CRY
And ... here's the grid. Time to finish off some chicken thighs braising on the cooktop. Food!
Steve
17A. Get-even competition : GRUDGE MATCH. The rematches between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fit nicely into this category. After Ali's sad passing last Friday, George Foreman related that Ali wanted George to come out of retirement so he could beat up Ken Norton for him. Fun stuff. And a great excuse for an iconic photograph taken by Neil Liefer:
38A. They're often seen under hoods : GARAGE MECHANICS. I just got shot of my old car, my mechanic was spending more time with it that I was. I leased a "for fun" sports coupe that allegedly has a top speed of 160MPH. I need to take it to Germany to figure out if that's true.
50A. "I didn't get that" : COME AGAIN?
62A. Last-minute interception, say, and a hint to this puzzle's circles : GAME CHANGER. The famous last-second interception in Superbowl XLIX was an all-time doozy. I don't think Pete Carroll can still believe it happened.
Nice theme from Matt, and the themers all split the GAME scramble across two words. Nothing at all clunky in the fill, I thought this was very nice and smooth. A grid-spanner across the middle and a couple of long downs filled things out nicely. Let's take a look at what else jumps out.
Across:
1. Two cents : SAY. I had the S and decided on a whim that a SOU was a French coin worth two cents. I couldn't have been more 66% wrong.
4. Place for pews : SANCTUM. Nice! I'd never thought of a sanctum being anything other than an inner one, with secrets I'd never be privy to. NAVE is often the answer for this clue.
11. Hubcap holder : RIM
14. NASDAQ news : I.P.O. Initial Public Offering. Usually followed by Immediate Profit Offloading.
15. Awabi sushi mollusk : ABALONE. Food! Abalone in California are caught by hand, and there's a guy who fishes the Farallon Islands off San Francisco who shares the waters with between 30 and 100 Great White sharks depending on the time of year. He admits to being nervous at times.
16. Actress Brenneman : AMY
19. "Tell Me More" broadcaster : NPR
20. __ de Cervantes : MIGUEL. Of Don Quixote fame.
21. El stop: Abbr. : STA. Tried STN first. Got it wrong.
22. City SSE of Sana'a : ADEN
23. Bath oil additive : ALOE
26. Traffic slower : GLARE
29. Suffix in skin product names : DERM
30. Pressure letters : PSI Pounds per Square Inch.
32. Usual : NORM. Check out Norm drinking his usual in "Cheers".
34. Tests using mice : MAZES
42. "It's __ simple" : ALL SO
43. The other side of midnight? : NOON. Didn't think twice about this. I was on Matt's wavelength today.
44. __ reaction : GUT
45. Skated : SLID
48. Crammer's tablet : NO-DOZ. Last fill; I couldn't shake the "iPad" tablet thinking and then rumbled the pill angle. Too much caffeine gives me a migraine, not what you want when you're cramming.
54. One of a Social Security card pair : DASH 999-99-9999
57. Problem for Lady Macbeth : SPOT. She needed better detergent. What was that stuff we had on here last week - Soil-be-gone or something?
58. Unwritten parts of some addresses : UMS. We've all sat through extremes of the "Ladies and, um, gentlemen, um, thanks for um, coming today and um, um ....". Makes your toes curl.
59. Scarlet letter, e.g. : STIGMA. Had -IGMA so didn't stop to read the clue and just threw ENIGMA in. Went back and fixed that about a minute later.
61. Babe's environs : PEN. No crosses at the time, so impetuously STY went in.
64. Torah holder : ARK
65. Fallacious : IN ERROR
66. Cauliflower __ : EAR. Ali avoided these, as do many boxers nowadays. I think the referees are much more on guard for nefarious ear-abuse.
67. "Street Dreams" rapper : NAS
68. Droopy face feature : SAD EYES
69. Like about half the counties in Arkansas : DRY. Not going there on vacation, right, Tinbeni?
Down:
1. 18th Greek letter : SIGMA
2. 4, at times : APRIL. This clued me into the fact that SOU was a rather idiotic attempt to solve 1A.
3. Cry of support : YOU GO GIRL!
4. Herb in a ballad : SAGE. Food! Along with parsley, rosemary and thyme in "Scarborough Fair". Simon and Garfunkel got the pronunciation of the town mostly correct.
5. Genesis brother : ABEL
6. "We Were Soldiers" setting : NAM. From the book "We were soldiers once, and young" written by Harold Moore, the officer portrayed in the movie, and the amazing Vietnam news reporter Joe Galloway. Intense reading.
7. What stripes and polka dots do : CLASH. I think the yellow Bug clashes more with the pink purse, to be honest.
8. Added (up) : TOTTED. Is this British English? I've not heard it for a while.
9. Free, as a bird : UNCAGE. Love the clue.
10. "Does nothing for me" : MEH.
11. Anita Baker genre : R AND B. Rhythm and Blues. I always put an extra "y" in rhythm and then wonder why it looks wrong.
12. 1983 Pritzker prize recipient : I.M. PEI. Solid crosses.
13. Loy of "Thin Man" films : MYRNA Solid crosses!
18. Fight with rules : DUEL. Gadzoiks, ye bounder! Pistols at twenty paces!
22. Mideast capital : AMMAN
24. __ paper : TERM
25. Tycoon Hammer : ARMAND. Hall-of-fame name.
27. Its capital is Luanda : ANGOLA
28. Sushi topper : ROE. Food! Remind me to go get sushi this week, it's been way too long. I roll my own sometimes for parties:
30. Sports org. founded in 1916 : P.G.A.
31. Co-star of James and Natalie in "Rebel Without a Cause" : SAL. Mineo.
33. Wise __ : MEN ".. say, only fools rush in"
35. Went like lightning : ZIG-ZAGGED
36. Former French coin : ECU
37. 2003 retiree, briefly : SST. Supersonic Transports. It's a shame they retired the Concorde, but I lived under the Heathrow flight path in London for a few years and those things rattled the windows. They were LOUD.
39. Positive point : ASSET
40. Fifth state: Abbr. : CONN. Oh, so not COLOrado then? I guess not. Zero marks for history.
41. Half a beverage : HOO. Maybe this one might raise some eyebrows. Yoo-hoo is the beverage.
46. Reptile with a "third eye" : IGUANA. Wikipedia notes:
"A parietal eye, also known as a third eye or pineal eye, is a part of the epithalamus present in some animal species. The eye is photoreceptive and is associated with the pineal gland, regulating circadian rhythmicity and hormone production for thermoregulation.".
So there we have it. Now repeat back to me. "A parietal .....".
47. Blocked, beaver-style : DAMMED
49. God in both Eddas : ODIN. There are two Eddas? There I was, all smug because I knew there was (were)? an edda (eddas?) and now I find there are two varieties - the prose and the poetic. Cross "smug" off my list of boasts today.
50. Where to see the House : C-SPAN. Capital "H" warning - it's not what you think.
51. Dvorák's "Rusalka," for one : OPERA
52. Some ascetics : MONKS
53. Rhone tributary : ISÈRE. I skied many times in Val D'Isère, site of the 1992 Winter Olympics downhill races, so this came relatively easy (unlike the skiing). The river in the village was about <- yay -> wide and mostly frozen; I've jumped across it in ski boots. In spring with the snowmelt at the bottom of the valley in Moutiers, it was usually <^^^^^^^^^^^^^ YAY ^^^^^^^^^^^^> wide and happy to turn tour buses into cruise ships.
55. Sully : SMEAR. What you'd be if you missed a turn on the Val D'Isère Olympic course.
56. Bother no end : HARRY.
59. It's about a foot : SHOE
60. Works on roads : TARS. The Black Stuff.
62. PX patrons : GI'S
63. Blubber : CRY
And ... here's the grid. Time to finish off some chicken thighs braising on the cooktop. Food!
Steve
{A, A, B, A.}
ReplyDeleteThe math student labored under the STIGMA
Of not remembering the meaning of SIGMA!
He remembered that it noted
Some things should be TOTTED,
But where toted to was his profound enigma!
A popular trope in old science fiction
Was PSIonic powers, either boon or affliction.
Authors thought reading minds
Would lead to thought crimes,
But today we just call it a Facebook addiction!
They called it a GRUDGE MATCH to make spectators drool.
They'd face off at NOON, in front of the school
In the GLARE of the sun
Each reached for his gum --
To blow the biggest bubble and settle their DUEL!
A lotion or potion with a name ending -DERM
Is purported to be keeping skin smooth and firm.
But I have a question
About that suggestion --
Have they ever seen the skin on a pachyderm?
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteWish I could say this one was ALL SO simple, but I found it to be a challenge. The theme was invisible, of course, but it was really the cluing that slowed me down. IN a good way, however. My favorite was "went like lightning" for ZIGZAGGED. For the longest time I was a bit miffed at the clue since ZIGZAGGED doesn't really have anything to do with going fast. And then it finally hit me that it was describing the PATH of lightning and not the speed. D'OH!
It also took awhile to get how SAY at 1A fit the clue until I realized that SAY was a noun in this case and not a verb. Well played, my friend. Well played!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI fell into the STY trap, but that's the only SPOT where I was scathed. I didn't get the ZIGZAGGED nuance until Barry 'splained it. Nice job, Matt.
Steve, I don't think the yellow bug clashed -- I didn't even notice it.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Cleveland lost by 33 Monday and then won by 30 last night in a GRUDGE MATCH
-Nobody can believe Pete Carroll made that play call, Lemon
-Two cents - Steven Wright
-When I started playing golf with a man named NORM, I had to explain why I said “Nahm” when I saw him
-This boxing gear would cure CAULIFLOWER EAR and much more
-For some reason, vulgarities, violence and misogyny used by RAPPERS are okay
-Wasn’t Mayberry in a DRY county, Otis?
-The NE was a bear until Anita quit singing the BLUES and went to R AND B
-Hillary and Donald will SMEAR each other endlessly but at least they won’t fight a DUEL like rivals Burr and Hamilton
-Does anyone pronounce the middle C in CONNECTICUT?
-What famous train leaves Penn. STA ‘bout a quarter to four?
A nice challenging but steady fill, with just enough twists to use my solving skills.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Cauliflower ear more in wrestling- maybe because the competitors ears get
mashed up against the mats so many times.
Thanks Steve and Matt!
"She was bred in old Kentucky
ReplyDeleteBut she's just a crumb up here.
Knock-kneed and double-jointed
With a cauliflower ear.
Curly Howard
Hi Y'all! I was on Matt's wave-length to the point that I got the theme without circles. Great puzzle! Took less time than most Thursdays. Enjoyed your witty expo, Steve!
ReplyDeleteSAGE in a salad? Not at my table. Yuk! I don't even like it in a turkey rub.
Tried several 4th letters for CONN abrev. Steve, Colorado was the Centennial State in that it entered the union in 1876, long after the eastern half of the country.
Anita Baker genre gave me fits when I only had R--D-. Wasn't sure whether she was a musician or writer or religious. THE before GAMBIA was another hang-up.
A good WAG was PGA. And I put in GARAGE MECHANIC with only the first "A", second "G" and "IC" -- maybe because my husband spent half his life under an engine hood of one machine or another.
Never heard of Pritzker Prize, but with IMP, "EI" was another good WAG.
YOO HOO is drunk famously by Author Harlen Coben's hero sleuth. Chocolate rather than scotch for Myron Bolivar.
befor
Ummm, how'd I get all that blank space in the above. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteBolitar not Bolivar, 'scuse me. Not quite awake.
ReplyDeleteSteve: Nice, informative write-up & links.
ReplyDeleteHalf of Arkansas is NOW officially off "the-bucket-list" (Oh, hell! All of Arkansas is off the "list!")
Matt: Thank You for a FUN Thursday puzzle. Enjoyed the GAME-CHANGER theme.
ESP (Every-Single-Perp) solves were MIGUEL, IM-PEI, NAS ... probably a few others.
Fave today, of course, was the CSO to NORM! My favorite "All-Time" character.
(Though, to be honest, Otis, in Mayberry, was a close second).
Cheers!
Gary - probably a lot of trains leave at 3:45. Do you mean the one on Track Twenty-nine?
ReplyDeleteWhere were the short suggestions in the clues for NPR, NAM and R AND B?
ReplyDeleteThose are HYPHENS in Social Security numbers, not DASHES.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteWEES. Much perp support helped get most of it OK. Had trouble with MIGUEL and ALL SO; had not SO at first. Favorite fill was ZIGZAGGED, too. Got the circles gimmick when almost done; so did not help the solve.
I see Argyle is a DRY town in NYS. ¿Que pasa, Argyle?
"Puzzling Thoughts":
ReplyDeleteA few write-overs here and there but slogged through it until the DW assured me that SANCTUM was correct, even though TOTTED looked weird. I googled TOTTED and sure enough, there was the answer! I guess if Steve can be forgiven for not knowing that Colorado wasn't one of the "colonies", then I can be for not knowing totted. Is that even a term/phrase the Brits use currently?
Once I "got" the theme - or at least the scrambled letters for the word GAME - the spanners came pretty easily. I used perps as well to get a few of the zones: NE and SW both fell with perps.
With regard to the interception in SB XLIX, that had to have been the worst decision Pete Carroll and his staff ever made. You've got the best RB (Marshawn Lynch) capable of gaining 1 yd, so just hand the ball to him and be done! I suppose the Seahawks tried to be cute; and at the time, maybe they thought a pass would be a deception. I'm not a Seattle fan, BTW. More of a New England Pats hater ...
Nothing could be finer....
ReplyDeleteWell Matt you have created a very well done Thursday with trickiness, wit and fairness. Not eating shellfish, I was not familiar with the term AWABI, but I have heard about the expensive ABALONE.
Liked the cluing of much of the short fill like UMS, DASH; also the shout out to a lersonal favorite MIGUEL CERVANTES. It is interesting to see STIGMA and SIGMA both today, as well as the special name ARM AND ARMAND.
PK the sage was in a BALLAD not a SALAD!
Anon at 9:02, not sure your nit is well picked:
Hyphens and Dashes. A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. The two are sometimes confused because they look so similar, but their usage is different. Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side.
Steve, I have never heard of braising any type of fowl. Interesting.
Welcome back MATT, thanks Steve.
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteThis was fun. Thanks, Matt. My favorite clue: About a foot. Favorite fill: ZIGZAGGED.
Once again, a fine tour. Thanks, Steve. I braise chicken all the time. It's tender and absorbs whatever flavor the chef chooses. I wonder what you were up to with yours.
HG: I love that Choo Choo and anything Glenn MIller or Big Band. My sister always said I was born too late. I always pronoun the C in Connecticut when I write it--an old habit to help me with spelling in my childhood.
Enjoy this day, everyone.
@Madame Defarge - last night's braise was with olives, lemon and thyme for a nice Mediterranean flavor; one of my faves.
ReplyDeleteSANCTUM slowly dawned on me! And I gradually fell into Matt's wave length though first thought the scrambled letters might be MEGA until reading the theme reveal. I love Anita Baker's RANDB sound and of course, MIGUEL de Cervantes came easily. Since Spanish was my minor, reading all that lit was mandatory.
ReplyDeleteRoots was about 25 years ago so didn't recall THEGAMBIA and I can't imagine that a re-do can capture the intensity and pathos of the original. We were mesmerized for a week watching it.
MONKS changed STY to PEN and count me as a big fan of ZIGZAGGED as well as "it's about a foot", SHOE. Good lesson today about IGUANA's "third eye". Thank you, Lemonade.
As for SAGE, does anyone have a solution for using the fresh herb? Mine is about two feet across and a gorgeous plant. Since I use it sparingly it's mostly decorative at this point.
I enjoyed your tasty observations, Steve, thank you.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
(Sorta DNF)
ReplyDelete(Not on my frequency)
(Outta my bailiwick)
(nowhere near my wheelhouse...)
The only way I could even try to finish this was by peeking at the Blog grid
whenever I got stuck. (which was every other word...)
I wouldn't even bother to post, (except to thank Matt Skoczen for this {expletive deleted} gamechanger)
if it were not for the Star Ledger thought for today:
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he isn't.
A sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is." -
Horace Walpole,English author(1717-1797)
Got started very late today. Terrific CW, Matt, Thanx!! Equally terrific write-up, Steve, Thanx to you too!
ReplyDeleteAnd Owen, you're back in form!! I'll give myself a tiny amount of credit for that by writing my awful limericks, to give you inspiration. 11D RANDB arrived at with perps. Then I looked at it for 10 seconds trying to figure out what RAND B was. Then the forehead slap. Favorite solve: ZIGZAGGED.
See the first ROOTS, not the second. Too PC.
ReplyDeleteBy the way............OwenKL is a genius!
Thanks for the kudos, Everyone, as usual! I enjoyed--when they finally worked out for me!--having YOUGOGIRL and ZIGZAGGED in the grid!
ReplyDelete---Matt Skoczen
Lemony has never heard of braising any fowl. Huh?!? Are you serious or just trolling for comments?
ReplyDeleteBraising fowl is very common way to cook fowl. The resulting juices are sometimes the best part of the result. Heck, one of the most famous recipes in the world, le coq au vin, is a braise is it not?
Yes indeed, coq au vin is a braise. I have a special recipe for it that always gets raves. I use real cocoa. Also, I believe chichin itza is a braise.
ReplyDeleteLemony: good grief, ballad not salad. I must have read that one with my trifocal line crooked. No wonder SAGE sounded nasty.
ReplyDeleteBluehen: chichin itza is a food? I thought it was a Mayan pyramid site. Never-the-less, I always braise chicken because I like the flavor. That is one of the few things I still cook.
CED: Don't despair if you can't "get into" a puzzle. We appreciate your genius in other areas.
Is today Saturday? Because the puzzle seems to be a Saturday level. I got through it but my oh my what a mess. I made all the same fill in errors as above and I do puzzles in pen, so again, what a mess.
ReplyDeleteThe town is dry, the residents...not so much. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteArgyle
I obviously do not know much about cooking. In retrospect I guess my mother did not braise much and I must not have paid enough attention during Top Chef .
ReplyDeleteI think it would be fun if we all sent in our recipes for chichin itza
Well, I always go across first and I got almost nothing on my first round with this puzzle this morning. But the downs quickly started filling things in, and I also got the GAME in the circles pretty quickly, so I ended up getting everything filled in, and having a great time to boot. Many thanks, Matt--also for checking in with us. And thanks for the picture of NORM, one of my "Cheers" favorites, Steve.
ReplyDeleteI of course got the Lady Macbeth answer right away, and only regretted that we didn't have DAMMED and SPOT crossing in the puzzle. That would have been cute.
Have a great Thursday, everybody!
What CED & aPVX said - I was ALL SO "COME AGAIN?" on most every clue. I finally TITT w/ a T-DNF in the east.
ReplyDeleteAfter COME AGAIN, I thought MEGA was the theme. GAME saving_(???) fixed my misconception but caused an inky-mess. Today's grid looks like my NORM Sat attempt.
Thanks Matt for the puzzle and thanks for stopping by. I did enjoy "YOU GO GIRL" but never suss'd ZIGZAGGED. Steve - you made it look so humours and easy. Thanks for the write-up.
OKL - #1 is outstanding - [hyphen] both funny and proof-[DASH]able. Donno how you do it.
Hand up - thought of Tin CRYin' at 69a == DRY.
Fav: 1a's clue. I LOL'd at my puzzle-PSI-powers after last night's conversation. Honest - I never saw this grid before opening this morning's paper.
Best c/a tho is SHOE for About a foot! Love it.
Gotta have a little CLASH for Steve today. At least it's peppier than an NPR link :-)
Cheers, -T
I'm with CED on this one: no way, no how was I gonna solve it!. Thanks for the challenge, Matt S. Thanks, Steve, for all your help.
ReplyDeleteThat "herb in a ballad" is one of my favorite songs by my favorite group.
OwenKL, you're doing a great job. I admire your ability to work words from the puzzle into your limericks. I've tried, and failed.
Today is our last day of decent summer weather for me. Tomorrow it's back to the high 80*s and into the 90*s.
Have a nice evening.
Pat
Fill does not get any better than YOU GO GIRL and ZIGZAGGED
ReplyDeleteStrange, but true. Armand Hammer's father was a member of the Socialist Workers Party and later on became a member of the Communist Party USA. The symbol of the socialists was an arm and hammer. Thus, Armand's name. How ironic that he grew up to become an influential, very rich capitalist.
You may have also noticed that that little yellow box of baking soda that's been in your cupboard for about twenty years is named Arm & Hammer... with an arm and hammer logo. However, there is no connection to Armand.
Can someone please explain 56. Down "Bother no end" - HARRY? My mind isn't wrapping around this one! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHarry means attack or annoy repeatedly. Bother no end means bother extremely or without ceasing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Yellowrocks! You do rock!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this puzzle gobs. I laughed out loud at "It's about a foot" because it reminded me of Melissa Bee's "They're just above two feet" clue a couple of weeks ago which tickled me pinker than a sunburned bald man.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you all.
Knocked this one off w/o a single help, cheat, google, or check-along-the-way. I had only to change WORRY to HARRY and SOB to CRY -- and these when they were still only in my head.
ReplyDeleteI amazed me-self by grokking YOU GO GIRL when I had only the first "G" in place and ZIGZAGGED with only the initial "Z" and a probable "ED" ending.
Dontcha love a pzl that makes you feel good in the solving?! Thanx, Matt Skoczen!
Ta-DAH!
Blue hen? Has no one called you on your recipe for coq au vin? Cocoa?? Hehehehehehehheeee
ReplyDeleteAs for CHICHEN ITZA......hehehehehheheeeeee
Thanks for the giggle.
Steve @ 10:46-- Mmmmmm. Perfetto! I'll try that early next week. Love those Mediterranean flavors! Grazie.
ReplyDeleteTesting, 1, 2, 3, 4.
ReplyDeleteAbejo
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Matt Skoczen, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteStarted this puzzle this evening. Only took me three hours to finish. I am on a train to Pennsylvania and worked it as we were riding. Not an easy puzzle at all. It was, however, done very well. One of the better ones I have done lately.
Got GAME CHANGER before any of the circled words. Then they all fell.
SANCTUM was one of the toughest for me to get. I was looking for CHURCH, or some variation. I almost wrote in A CHURCH, but held off. Amazingly, Imhad no inkblots today. I just waited until I had it right.
MIGUEL was tough. I had the UEL and almost wrote in MANUEL, but wisely held off. APRIL and YOU GO GIRL fixed that.
As others have said, SHOE was a good one. I also liked C SPAN.
In wrapping up, great puzzle. I hope to start Friday's puzzle this evening. We will see how that goes.
Owen KL: Great poem today. You are talented.
See you tomorrow from Johnsonburg, PA (I hope)
Abejo
Abejo - don't you mean Testing 1, 2, 3, APRIL? :-). Good to see you back and have a good trip to PA.
ReplyDeleteSwamp - I took BlueHen seriously re: cocoa braise. I use used coffee grounds in some steak rubs. Blue, I SAY, were you pulling our leg?
OK, I'm nearly "one" with the Rubik but the top finish moves still eludes me. I've completed it 5 or 6 times now but don't "see" it. Any suggestions? [being sick makes one really bored].
Misty - wishing DAMMED x'd SPOT; LOL!
CSPAN is fun... for nap time.
Gotta get back to the GIRLs - they're taking a night swim and quoting everything from The Who to The IT Crowd. Could a papa be more proud?
I braised, er, raised them well...
Cheers, -T
Swamp Cat, having googled Chichin Itza, the recipe, which has chocolate in the sauce, I believe Blue Hen was referring to putting cocoa in that rather than coq au vin.
ReplyDeleteThe Unread One finally posts. I've got Ali's memorial on ESPN of all places, perhaps other outlets too have it. CC, perhaps you can use the clue:
ReplyDeleteStrange ____ with the answer BEDFELLOWS.
Powerful service.
Never got RANDB until the write-up. Nor understood ZIGZAGGED. NE was all perps around THEGAMBIA and MYRNA. Recognized IMPEI.
SAGE works with the stuffing
Did anyone else put fLARE for Traffic slower before GLARE? It seemed like deliberate misdirection, but maybe I was the only one?
ReplyDeleteI knew of IM PEI as the designer of several memorable buildings on the MIT campus. He also designed the famous Pyramid at the Louvre.
No idea of ECU as a French coin. I enjoyed this puzzle, but it seemed more like a Friday level than a Thursday level.
And, of course, no circles in my version. But I did get all of the GAME CHANGERS anyway!