Theme: Birthday Boy - Tribute to a one of a kind.
17A. *1977 Hitchcock parody : "HIGH ANXIETY"
60A. *1976 parody of pre-talkies : "SILENT MOVIE"
3D. *With "The," 1968 parody of dishonest Broadway financiers : "PRODUCERS"
23D. *With 25-Down, 1974 Western parody : "BLAZING" 25D. See 23-Down : "SADDLES"
35D. Born 6/28/1926, director of the answers to starred clues : MEL BROOKS. Director, Producer, Writer, Actor, Composer, Singer(?) and certified NUT.
Argyle here with a new diabolical duo. We can be sure to hear from at least one half of the constructors. An interesting pinwheel grid. This could be difficult for those who are not a fan of this movie genre.
Across:
1. Official on a baseline : UMP.
4. "Cheers" mixologist : WOODY. 13. "Cheers" location : BAR
9. Warehouse club with 652 locations : SAM'S. Sam's bar : "Cheers".
14. Place for a queen : THRONE. There is often a place for a queen in a Mel Brooks movie.
15. Request : PLEA
16. Alter __ : EGO
19. Turn in for cash : REDEEM
21. Smooth transitions : SEGUEs
22. Laptop port letters : USB. (Universal Serial Bus)
23. Air gun shot : BBs
26. "Wrong!" : "NOT SO!". Your classier play ground retort.
27. Muslim holy city : MECCA
29. Go for eagerly, as a chance : LEAP AT. Not JUMP AT.
31. "All bets __ off" : ARE
32. Tanzania neighbor : RWANDA
34. Self-satisfied : SMUG
38. Broadcast : AIR
39. As if in shock : DAZEDLY
41. Ambient music pioneer Brian : ENO
42. Suburb of Phoenix : MESA
44. Remington 700s, e.g. : RIFLES
45. British "Inc." : LTD.. Incorporated/Limited.
46. Journalist Chung : CONNIE
48. Boxcar stowaways : HOBOs
50. Amassed, as debts : RAN UP
53. Fast sports cars : GTs
54. Incoming flight info: Abbr. : ARRival
55. Hams it up : EMOTEs. Great clue for today.
57. Green Giant's "Little Green" buddy : SPROUT
64. Tip jar bill : ONE
65. Slanted type: Abbr. : ITALic
66. Insult : OFFEND
67. Kipling's young spy : KIM. It was first published as a serial.
68. The Big Apple, in addresses : NY, NY
69. Rides the breeze : WAFTS
70. Gas additive brand : STP
Down:
1. Transportation network app : UBER. Modern alternative clue.
2. Ancient sorcerer : MAGE
4. Caprice : WHIM
5. Email suffix : .ORG
6. "Awesome!" : "OOH!". Warming up for the Fourth.
7. Paternity suit evidence, briefly : DNA
8. Longings : YENS
9. Cask outlets : SPIGOTS
10. Alaskan native : ALEUT
11. Allots, with "out" : METES
12. Authority : SAY SO
14. Shakespearean nickname : THE BARD
18. TV princess played by Lucy Lawless : XENA
20. PC "oops" key : ESC
24. Dental coverage, e.g. : BENEFIT
27. Address to a lady : MA'AM
28. Buffalo's county and lake : ERIE
30. Washed-out : PALE
33. Alert : WARN
36. Golden rule word : UNTO
37. Saturn and Mars : GODS
40. Like a fork in the road : Y-SHAPED
43. With keen perception : ACUTELY
47. Welcoming store window sign : OPEN
49. Hockey great Bobby : ORR
50. Pine secretion : RESIN
51. Island in "Jaws" : AMITY
52. Strikeout king Ryan : NOLAN
56. Put in a hold : STOW
57. Transgressions : SINS
58. Mile or minute : UNIT
59. Weather Channel stat : TEMP. stat and TEMP are both shortened words.
61. Juilliard deg. : MFA. Master of Fine Arts
62. Inaccurate : OFF
63. Boxer fixer : VET. A boxer dog.
Argyle
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
This is the first collaboration between our own Lemonade and Jeffrey Wechsler. In fact, this is Jeffrey's very first collaboration. Congratulations, guys!
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Lemonade and his lovely wife Oo, Dec 21, 2014
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David Liben-Nowell, Cathy Long (David's friend), Tom Pepper, Jeffrey Wechsler, David Hanson & C.C.
June 12, 2016
June 12, 2016
54 comments:
Learning moment for me: I always thought fear of heights and fear of falling were acrophobia and heightrophobia (though which was which I was unsure of). In writing the poem below, I found no such word as hightrophobia (sp?), but instead found hypsiphobia, hypsophobia and altophobia, and all mean the same thing: acrophobia, fear of heights. Fear of falling apparently doesn't even have a -phobia term! FWIW, I also found batophobia, which is not a fear of Batman, but rather being near a tall building.
{A-, B+, B+, C-.}
MEL BROOKS' SILENT MOVIE was amiss from its time
It fell back to the days when a show cost a dime!
The soundtrack was frantic
Or WHIMSICALLY antic,
And the only word spoken was said by a mime!
Acrophobia, hypsophobia, either's a PLEA
That down on the ground I've a fierce YEN to be!
Upwards, not fer to go,
Results in vertigo,
Otherwise known as HIGH ANXIETY!
The West was won by rail-men who were addled
Rather than face them, the Injuns skedaddled!
The outlaws were sprung,
The sheriff was "hung",
And that was the story of BLAZING SADDLES!
~^~^~^~
The man at the top says it's done cause I SAY SO!
The man at the bottom says till it's redone, it's NOT SO!
The one has an EGO,
The other thinks OOH no,
And neither one notices it being undone by a HOBO!
Morning, all!
Delightful puzzle from Lemonade and Jeffrey today. Loved the theme as I'm a huge Mel Brooks fan and knew all the movies. Everything else was smooth sailing today.
Congrats J & J, keep 'em coming! And thank you Argyle for all the trailers. It's like seeing the movies all over again.
My favorite scene in Silent Movie is when the giant fly comes loose and sails off the roof of an exterminator's van and lands in a bowl of soup.
The Producers of course was turned into a musical. Here is a prediction you won't hear from anyone else: Silent Movie will never be a Broadway musical.
Good morning!
Loped through this one quickly. Wanted an additional A in RWANDA, but that was my only stumble. Thanx for the map, Argyle. Never realized RWANDA was so small. Burundi, either. YSHAPED seemed a bit "gluey," but I understand it. Congrats on your collaboration, Jeffrey and Lemon.
Nowadays, NOLAN Ryan pitches his own brand of beef and foundation repairs. Girdles are not involved.
SEGUES seems to be showing up a lot lately, but not sure all occurrences were in the LAT.
Another Mel Brooks fan here, so very easy. Good thing since I crashed and burned in the NYT puzzle today.
Thanks for the fun today Jeffrey and Lemonade. Congrats on the debut.
My queen was in a palace before she was on a THRONE. I had ETA before ARR. Misreading 56D as "put on hold" led me to fill in Stop before STOW. I had the final A for Tanzania neighbour and Kenya was too short; waited for perps to decide between Uganda, RWANDA or Zambia.
Canadians are warming up for the 1st. Our area is currently so dry that we have a fire ban so our fireworks may not happen! Our weather channel stat TEMP is given in Celsius not Fahrenheit.
Thanks for all the anniversary wishes yesterday (and the cake CED)! We celebrated with a delicious supper at a local winery.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler and Lemonade, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
This was not a speed run for me. A little tough. The only one of those movies I had seen was BLAZING SADDLES. Thew rest I had not even heard of. Got 'er done.
UBER was easy. I have used them. Great service.
ERIE jumped right off the page at me. There is also an ERIE County in both Pennsylvania and Ohio. Same lake.
I also tried ETA before ARR became the answer.
WAFTS is a huge inkblot. Tried SOARS first. Then all the Downs made me change that a couple times.
Never heard of MAGE. Perps.
Our daughter turned 24 yesterday. Went to dinner at Outback. Great Steak and Blooming Onion.
Heading to Pennsylvania tomorrow.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
Fun, but creative speed run since I enjoy the Mel Brooks movies.
Young Frankenstein would have been too long...
Thanks Lemonade, Jeffrey - a wonderful collaboration
and Argyle for the write-up!
Who's not a Mel Brooks fan? Saw him at the equally-old Procter's Theater in Schenectady last year, "An Evening With..." plus a showing of "Blazing Saddles" on the really big screen.
My daughter and I refer to him simply as "The Genius". The climax of her amateur acting/singing career was playing Ulla in FL a few years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVOUGYma-Ec
John Lampkin, of course the man eating that bowl of soup was that other giant for fans of that type of humor, Henny Youngman.
What a clever and fun Tuesday by Lemon and Jeff Wex where the theme stood out like a brick in a punch bowl! We saw The Producers last week at the Omaha Playhouse theater whose early founders were Dorothy Brando and Herbeta Fonda. Their kids went on to pretty good careers.
Musings
-This unlikely man spoke the only word in Silent Movie (:05)
-Is Africa the continent where we know the fewest number of countries?
-If it weren’t in his puzzle, what would Lemon say about DAZEDLY? ☺
-Connie is married to a man to a man who puts some horrible stuff on THE AIR that I assume uses DNA
-The sweet aroma of milkweed WAFTS through the air at our course and attracts monarch butterflies
-Ah, the singular of MAGI
-This rosin bag contains a powdery form of tree RESIN
-People want to STOW some pretty big stuff in overhead compartments these days
-Answer to my question yesterday about John Laroquette: A scene where he improvised the line after tripping (1:03)
-FORE, on a fabulous summer day.
Argyle: Wonderful write-up & links. Good Job!!!
J & J: Thank You for a FUN tribute puzzle celebrating Mel Brooks 90th birthday.
Fave today, of course, was 13-a, "Cheers" location, BAR ... I always like a BAR.
Since "Its 5 O'clock Somewhere" ... I wonder if I can get WOODY to "mix" the difficult Scotch/NEAT???
Cheers!
I heard of all these movies, except High Anxiety. That X was the last to fall after I thought of Xena. I enjoyed The Producers in a movie and several stage productions. I really like Nathan Lane. I have seen none of the other theme movies.
I knew MAGE from historical novels about medieval times. My older son doesn't understand my love of historical novels and says real history is better. These novels pique my interest and often lead me to research actual history. By choosing reliable authors I find my reading is often on the money. It is also a terrific vocabulary builder.
Jason and Jeff, fine collaboration.
Good morning Ye Merrie Bande.
Belated Happy Anniversary wishes to Canadian Eh.
Thanks to all for the good wishes to us on our 51st.
A special BZ to Jeffrey and Lemonade on a fine collaboration and fresh Tuesday offering. It was a hoot to note the authorship before solving, and to execute the solve itself. Liked SPIGOTS.
28d - ERIE - Lived and worked in Buffalo, Erie Co. for 19 years. Met BH there and all the kids were born there. Have dealt extensively with L. Erie and its outflow. (Strangely, the clue was missed this morning because the acrosses came so readily.)
Great fun!!
Thanks, Jeffrey. Congratulations, Lemonade! It was fun to see the constructors; I couldn't wait to get started. Nicely done!
Thanks, Argyle for the tour and the clips. I, too, am a Mel Brooks fan, and it fell into place easily. If you haven't seen it, check out Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Brooks and Carl Reiner. It's really a fond tribute. (Sorry I still don't know how to link stuff.)
Have a fine day today, everyone!
Good Morning:
I've not seen any of those movies, just clips, but am totally familiar with their titles. And, of course, who doesn't know and love Mel Brooks. I read once that his late wife, Anne Bancroft, said that she could hardly wait for him to get home each night because he would have her in stitches with his jokes and humor. I thought the puzzle was a typical Tuesday level, just right. Hand up for ETA/Arr and Mage was unknown.
Nice work, Jeff and Lemony, and we'll look forward to another joint venture. Argyle, you're as dependable and delightful as always in guiding us along. Thank you.
Owen, I share your acrophobic anxiety! (But not your poetic prowess.)
HG, are you able to get to see any of the Olympic swimming trials? There are a few hopefuls there from my area.
Rain due later today which is badly needed.
Have a great day.
Madame D. not sure if this is the episode you wanted but here they are, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee .
Yes, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is 16 letters; the hardest part of building this grid was Mel's birthday being a Tuesday necessitating leaving so much of his career out of the grid. Jeffrey was a real pleasure to work with; I have been blessed with the opportunity to collaborate with C.C., marti and now JW.
Not a big fan of Mel Brooks, but DH has seen his movies, so we got it done pretty quickly. Thanks, Jeffrey & Lemonade, for a fine puzzle, and tribute to MB!
Argyle, as always, nice work on the review!
Hi gang - just wanted to stop in and congratulate Jason for his collaboration. Nicely done, and a fun solve.
Hope everyone's well and enjoying life, 'cause I sure as hell am.
Good late morning all.
Nice tribute puzzle, but hand up for never seeing any of the movies in their entirety. Have seen parts of each of these movies and others, but never have been able to sit through any of them. Mel Brooks is a funny and creative man with his over the top humor, but like the Three Stooges slapstick (sorry Moe), it's just not my cup of tea.
Fun and easy puzzle though. Solved the perimeter and left the center for last. Made a neat pattern.
Thanks all. Time to catch up on the outdoor work now that the temps have dropped. Beautiful day in Chicagoland !
Congrats Lemonade/Jason and Jeffrey! nicely done!
Congratulations, Jason and Jeff!!!! What a wonderful collaboration created by a truly dynamic duo! I'm DAZZLED.
I'm also a MELBROOKS fan though like TTP, can take only a limited amount at a time. The PRODUCERS, I believe, is in a class by itself and was privileged to watch it on Broadway starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick who themselves are another dynamic duo. No one EMOTES quite like Nathan Lane.
The Cheers mini theme was also amusing.
Many thanks, Lemonade and Jeffrey and Argyle, too. I'll have to return later to view the clips.
Have a splendid summer day, everyone!
Hi Everybody!
Fun puzzle today - fantastic job J and J! And thank you for the movie clips in the write-up. I had not heard of Silent Movie but will try to find it now. I got a kick out of the wiki article that says, "The DVD contains audio tracks in English, Spanish, and French, even though the film's only spoken line, "Non" (French for "No"), sounds almost identical in all three languages." LOL!!
I can't ever fill in Igor without pronouncing it "Eye-gor" in my head!
Have a great day!
t.
Also did the WSJ puzzle today, "The Great Divide" by our very own C.C. Nice job!
What Peg said. I'm working on CC's GREAT DIVIDE in the WSJ. Can't swing a dead cat w/o running into some C.C. creation. :-) I've got the WSJ on trial for 12 weeks for $12. A bargain.
A neat tribute to Mr. Brooks. Some of my favorite movie memories are from his films. For sheer audacity, nothing tops the punching-out of the horse in BLAZING SADDLES. A natural extension of "Pick on someone your own size!"
Now, why didn't Roy or Tom or Hoppy ever think of that?
Hi Y'all! OOH, a Lemon flavored JeffWex puzzle about MELBROOKS! That oughta be a riot. Well, almost. The things going on behind the scenes of this blog are unbelievable. Collaborations, conspiracies to puzzle we who are addicted to CW.
The closest I ever got to watching one of those movies is when my son brought home a tape of "BLAZING SADDLES"to watch with his cousins while I was preparing a meal for 25 people in the nearby kitchen. They kept yelling at me to come in and see the good parts. Sadly, I usually got there too late. I had heard of the "PRODUCERS". It wasn't that I didn't like MEL, those were ridiculously busy years for me. Seldom got to sit and watch anything not business related.
Didn't watch "CHEERS" either. With great perps, it didn't matter.
Thank you, Argyle for exposing the plots.
OwenKL
BAROPHOBIA – literally FEAR OF "WEIGHT/GRAVITY" is the closest I could come up with. It can mean either "fear of being crushed by gravity" or "fear of falling" – both of which would seem to amount to the same thing (if you're high enough and massive enough).
I think my favorites are Blazing Saddles and The Producers (Zero Mostel version)
HAPPY 90th!!
Fun puzzle with a great theme, Jeffrey and Lemonade--Congratulations! I've seen all the movies although can't remember SILENT MOVIE very well. Maybe I need spoken words to stick in my memory. And Argyle, thanks for reminding us that this was a celebration of MEL BROOKS' birthday--I didn't catch that when I was doing the puzzle.
Have a great Tuesday, everybody!
Jeff & Jason
• Enjoyed the theme - I did not know all of them but they were easy to guess. BLAZING and SADDLES in parallel juxtaposition was impressive. WOODY was the only complete unknown, but easily filled with perps.
• Fill was otherwise fine (THE BARD, SPIGOTS) if not too exciting, featuring those hardy perennials, EMOTES, ENO and UMP.
• Y-SHAPED might of course have been defined in a racier fashion - but would probably have been edited out. I would have settled for "Like a cocktail glass", for Tinbeni's sake.
• Were you trying to link UBER with AIR BBS. You were close!
• DAZEDLY is in my Dictionary - no problem there – late 19th century.
• I enjoyed seeing MAGE (although "Ancient" depends on your historical perspective - it is an anglicized version [prob. via Norman/Old French "MAGUE"]). The original Latin, MAGUS, plural, MAGI, is always translated as "WISE MEN" in the Bible of course – calling them magicians or sorcerers would rather spoil the whole Nativity scene thing..
• DUE WEST was the only meh area, with the UBER-UBIQUITOUS ERIE spoiling the fun (this word has become a standing joke on this blog, as you know, and was easily avoidable), crossed with the too (even for a TOOSDAY) obvious clue for ARE; the latter might have been tied in as a clecho to UNIT (of area).
• Overall I'd give it B+ to A-.
No need to add any silliness today...
Musings 2
-IM, the finals of the College World Series and the USA Olympics Swim Finals are going on across the street from each other in Omaha and are both sold out. I am not fighting that traffic.
-Off to Lincoln to watch new grandsons play bad baseball. It’s what you do
Nice Cuppa @ 1405. If you've read my first post, you'd see that ERIE still pulls at my soul, so while it has appeared often recently, it is still like getting a whiff of fresh mown hay.
The constructors have absolutely no way of knowing when their product will be published. Typically it can take many months to a year of more for their product to see the printed page. So don't blame them for a clue clustering.
Good afternoon. I liked the puzzle and enjoyed the writeup. Thanks Lemon, Jeffrey and Argyle.
I used to enjoy Cheers.
What a treat to see Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Jerry Seinfeld riding around in a Rolls Royce. Thanks for that.
I was trying to remember the name of a classic perfume for some reason. It finally popped into my brain; Shalimar. Heavy and sweet. An acquaintance used to wear it playing mixed doubles. It was hard to be on the same side of the court with her because of the overwhelming sweet smell emminating from a perspiring body. I never got up the nerve to mention it to her.
I got a haircut today. In fact, I got many of them cut...
Well I didn't have much time but it was Tue. Any puzzle with an ORR is right by me. Boy, did he get screwed by the bruins and his agent. I thought Remington made razor 😞. I I'll watch some MB on my phone someday
Thanks authors, blog-mod and fans
I really enjoyed the musical subtheme. "Help Me Rwanda" by the Beach Boys, and former Van Halen singer Dazedly Lee Roth.
And... Brooks is quite the musician himself. In a series of Russian concert competitions Brooks garnered this headline in Pravda- "MEL IN SOVIET VIOLIN MEETS"
He made a SILENT MOVIE about that. Concerning Brooks' talent, Brezhnev said,
"MEL'S OK, BRO"
Excellent puzzle. Yeah, Brooks made a stinker or two, but what film genius hasn't? My favorite scene from one of his movies is when Moses is about to declare there are twenty commandments, breaks one of the two tablets they are engraved on by dropping it and quickly declares there are only ten.
We'll be waiting for another collaboration...
Nice puzzle. Good job, J&J. Not a Mel Brooks fan, but knew the names of the movies. I also like that word SPIGOT.
Jerome, excellent.
What a fun offering from Jeff Wex & Lem! Thanks guys. I'm a huge BROOKS fan and filled every movie sans perps (spelling ANXIETY, though, made me anxious). Thanks guys.
Thanks too to Argyle - enjoyed all the clips all over again.
Final fill was 4a - ?O?[r/D]Y. I thought of SAM, Diane, Carla, Rebecca, Coach, but couldn't recall the character that WOODY Harrelson played. OOH, that V-8 hurt!
WOs - just me can't spelling. [see: PLEe]
Fav: The theme. I've seen every one of these movies at least twice and BLAZING SADDLES at least 20 times. I can't wait for the Python puzzle :-)
HG: Yes - I read somewhere recently (maybe here?): "Wars are GODS way of making Americans learn geography." We've not invaded Africa - yet.
M. Defarge - Sometimes I'll watch that CiCGC episode at night for my bed-time giggle. Brilliant!
CED - oh, come on, be silly; we count on it.
Jerome - It was 15 in History of the World Part I. But, yeah, it's funny.
Cheers, -T
Ooops, sorry OKL - {A, A-, A+, C}. Cheers, -T
Just wanted to congratulate Lemonade for another fabulous puzzle with another famous collaborator. Enjoyed it very much. I learnt a lot about Mel Brooks and his movies that I didn't know. Hopefully I will see the 'silent movie', soon.
Thank you Argyle, as always, for your blog and interesting links and videos.
Hi Dennis, enjoy your Florida life.
Have a nice day, all.
Anonymous T - the US invaded Africa during WWII - Casablanca, Operation Torch, Kasserine Pass.
I have trouble with African countries because I learned most of them before the end of colonialism when many of them renamed themselves.
Glad I got this very fun puzzle in time to comment, and to congratulate Jason on another milestone collaboration. Mel Brooks of course is a genius. "walk this way". I've stolen that line a few times in restaurants. Life goes on at Windhover; Spitz would enjoy the aroma in back yard this evening; I cut the adjacent hayfield yesterday.
Anon T - The Barbary Wars of the early 1800's against Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers arguably have elements of African invasion.
It's late, but I just have to congratulate Lemonade on this wonderful puzzle!
Jeff Wex, I got this one! You have beat me up so often I just have to gloat...and thank you for all the fun you have given me in the past. . You may defeat me, but I get alllllll the fun of trying to solve your challenges!!
Owen....all A's... Thanks for the giggles.
Argyle....such fun reliving the movies via the trailers! Thanks.
I love Mel...in small doses!
@9:10 Lemonade,
Absolutely the clip I was referring to. Jerry Seinfeld honors two great comic writers/comedians! Thanks for posting it for me!
Again congrats on a debut puzzle.
Madame D
Oops! Not a debut, but a first Lemonade puzzle for me!
What a nice response and great to see Vidwan, my brother from another mother and Dennis stopping by to say hello. I thank each and everyone of you and of course JW.
And his head grew three sizes that day...
Bill-O & Spitz: I know. It's a joke at the expense of my fellow gen-X'ers who don't know geo. No worries; my jokes usually fall flat :-|
Re: African countries changing their name: Two buddies of mine, one a history buff, one from Algiers, made a $50 bet on who could name the most countries. The former lost as he was using historical names while my Algiers buddy named 100+ ( I want to SAY it was around 140 or SO) won.
Spitz, I'm quite familiar w/ the Geo mentioned in our fellow Brother's in Arms' Hymn.
If you have 1:22:41, MEL BROOKS on American Masters (PBS).
Thanks again Jeff, Lem, & Argyle. See ya' tomorrow...
Cheers, -T
windhover- Good to hear from you, my radical rascal comrade. I wish you'd stop being a ghost that tugs at your sleeve once in a long while then fades into shadows once again. I'm pretty sure I know where your reasons for being a wisp of almost nothingness are originating from. I, too, feel like just withering away from here sometimes... but, why add to the sounds of silence. Silence isn't golden, it's a crime.
Anon -T - I think you pasted the wrong url into the link instruction for the Hymn.
Y shaped ? Weak
Spitz - D'Oh! here's the one I like'd. Let's see if I got it right this time.
Anyone watch American Masters? I had it on in the background while finishing work - what a life MEL has led. I also learned about 12 Chairs, something I'll have to find.
Cheers, -T
Man I am getting old, I did not see th a t Larry also stopped by. Thank you, g lad to he r things,are good.
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