Theme: Story Arc - the four theme entries have a story to tell.
17A. Host of a program also known as "The Factor" : BILL O'REILLY. [Lore]. Often in the news.
"Like all great theologies, Bill's can be boiled down to one sentence: There must be a god, because I don't know how things work." - Stephen Colbert.
24A. Feature of some German nouns : MALE GENDER. [Legend]. Masculine, Feminine and Neutral. Der, Die, Das. Latin too.
34A. '60s-'70s sitcom whose four original family members were married over the course of the series : MY THREE SONS. [Myth]. Never saw the sitcom, but it osmosis'ed its way into my brain the the crosses pulled it out for me.
47A. Virus symptom, perhaps : FATAL ERROR. [Tale]. Took me a little while to cotton on to this one - a virus in the computer sense leading to the dreaded "blue screen of death".
56A. Private details ... or what's found in this puzzle's circles : INSIDE STORY
A couple of things about the theme struck me as as not quite right - if "inside" refers to the position of the circled word in the phrase, then "MYTH" isn't really "inside", more off to the left edge. Also, I don't see an INSIDE STORY as "private", more a story told by those who were present.
I'll take my Mr. Grumpy hat off now, this is the view out of the office window this morning, and who can stay grumpy looking at Mt. Rainier on a sunny day?
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Novelist celebrated on Bloomsday : JOYCE. If ever there was an almost mythical legend of lore and tale-telling, it would be James Joyce. His novel "Ulysses" is set on a single day, June 16th 1904, and the protagonist, Leopold Bloom, lends his name to the annual celebration of the book, and the author, on the anniversary.
6. Leaves on a shelf? : PAGES. Plenty of pages in Ulysses. My edition is just shy of 700 of them.
11. Pampering place : SPA
14. Spheres of study : AREAS
15. Like 1-Across : IRISH. To be sure.
16. Granola grain : OAT
19. "What a cutie!" : AWW
20. Pampas weapon : BOLA. Leg-entangling thing.
21. Slanted text: Abbr. : ITAL
22. "A" on many a cornerstone : ANNO. Probably old cornerstones now that the "CE" designation appears to be more acceptable.
23. He or I : ELEM. Cracking clue. The abbreviated helium and iodine are chemical elements.
27. Lee material : DENIM. Lee jeans. The hard-wearing cotton fabric "serge de Nîmes" eventually anglicized to"denim".
29. Locks : TRESSES
30. Half a repartee : TAT. Tit for?
32. Stick around : STAY. We see "segue" sometimes in the crossword - here's a great example from Jackson Browne as "The Load Out" segues into "Stay".
33. Berliner's direction : OST. The German compass rose, clockwise from the top - Nord, Ost, Süd, West
37. Wee amount : SOU. In spite of the apparently Scottish allusion with "wee", the sou was French.
39. "Glee" extra : TEEN
40. Backing : PRO
41. Belgian diamond center : ANTWERP
43. Expressive tweet space-savers : EMOJI. What's the singular? I have no idea.
51. Cries of clarity : AHAS!
52. Temptation garden : EDEN
53. "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy" speaker : IAGO. Handsome antagonist in Othello, or at least Kenneth Branagh is.
54. Banks on a runway : TYRA. Here she is:
55. Place for a screwdriver : BAR. I'll have a double, please. Lots of ice, California orange juice, Tito's vodka. Sláinte! A good start to Bloomsday.
59. Before, to Byron : ERE
60. Action movie climax : CHASE
61. Toys in laps, briefly : PEKES
62. Newsman Koppel : TED. I don't watch much news TV. Thank you, crosses.
63. Pompeo of "Grey's Anatomy" : ELLEN. I don't watch much drama TV. Thank you, crosses.
64. Hobbit on a quest : FRODO. Did anyone else find Sam Gamgee an inspiring character in the book and a complete pain in the backside in the movie? "Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo!". Ugh.
Down:
1. Elbowed : JABBED
2. Player with an orange-and-black logo : ORIOLE. Baltimore baseball player.
3. Federal Reserve chair after Bernanke : YELLEN. Nailed it!
4. Great misfortune : CALAMITY
5. Anka's "__ Beso" : ESO
6. Michelangelo statue : PIETA. In St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, appropriately.
.jpg/1024px-Michelangelo's_Piet%C3%A0%2C_St_Peter's_Basilica_(1498%E2%80%9399).jpg)
7. Courier alternative : ARIAL. Not self-delivery? Oh - typeface. Gotcha.
8. Manufacturer of Venus razors : GILLETTE. Did you see that Dollar Shave Club just got bought by for one BILLION dollars by Unilever? That's one heck of a disruptive business model.
9. Immigrant's subj. : ESL
10. Uncomfortable in singles bars : SHY
11. No-goodniks : SO-AND-SOS
12. "Dances With Wolves" natives : PAWNEES
13. If all goes wrong : AT WORST
18. Edge : RIM
22. Short reply? : ANS. Like this is a self-describing crossword answer!
25. Clutch : GRASP
26. Pooh's gloomy pal : EEYORE. One of my favorite characters in the books (not the travesty that is the Walt Disney Studio version).
28. Monster High doll maker : MATTEL. Who? What? Apparently "The entire franchise will be rebooted in 2016, with new face molds, movie animation (starting with "Welcome to Monster High"), slogan ("How Do You Boo?"), and song "This Is How We Boo" performed by Jordin Sparks". So now we know.
31. "Done!" : THERE!
32. C-SPAN fig. : SEN. POL went in. POL came out.
34. Complained under one's breath : MUTTERED
35. Retaliatory act : REPRISAL
36. "Oh, it's fine" : NO MATTER
37. Low-risk wager : SAFE BET. No such thing in my experience.
38. How some foolish things are done : ON A DARE
42. Pallid : WAN
44. Tribute song on John Lennon's "Imagine" : OH YOKO. Nice to see her expanded by a couple of letters.
45. Rattled : JARRED
46. Mom's argument-ending words : I SAY SO. Rarely seen without "because ...".
48. More than see : RAISE
49. Birth city of most of the Osmonds : OGDEN
50. Seafood delicacy : ROE
56. Hotel amenity : ICE. Not in a lot of English hotels. They look at you as if you're crazy if you want a bucket of ice.
57. Org. with 30 franchises : NHL. The National Hockey League. I didn't realize there were so many teams. I think I can name maybe 10 without straining, then I'm starting to hunt and peck.
58. Hawaiian Tropic lotion letters : S.P.F.
This time last week I was in the English north-west, today the Pacific north west, and beautiful weather in both places. I feel charmed! The weather's so nice up here I'm going to stick around for the weekend. Aaaaaand finally ..... here's the grid!
Steve
17A. Host of a program also known as "The Factor" : BILL O'REILLY. [Lore]. Often in the news.
"Like all great theologies, Bill's can be boiled down to one sentence: There must be a god, because I don't know how things work." - Stephen Colbert.
24A. Feature of some German nouns : MALE GENDER. [Legend]. Masculine, Feminine and Neutral. Der, Die, Das. Latin too.
34A. '60s-'70s sitcom whose four original family members were married over the course of the series : MY THREE SONS. [Myth]. Never saw the sitcom, but it osmosis'ed its way into my brain the the crosses pulled it out for me.
47A. Virus symptom, perhaps : FATAL ERROR. [Tale]. Took me a little while to cotton on to this one - a virus in the computer sense leading to the dreaded "blue screen of death".
56A. Private details ... or what's found in this puzzle's circles : INSIDE STORY
A couple of things about the theme struck me as as not quite right - if "inside" refers to the position of the circled word in the phrase, then "MYTH" isn't really "inside", more off to the left edge. Also, I don't see an INSIDE STORY as "private", more a story told by those who were present.
I'll take my Mr. Grumpy hat off now, this is the view out of the office window this morning, and who can stay grumpy looking at Mt. Rainier on a sunny day?
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Novelist celebrated on Bloomsday : JOYCE. If ever there was an almost mythical legend of lore and tale-telling, it would be James Joyce. His novel "Ulysses" is set on a single day, June 16th 1904, and the protagonist, Leopold Bloom, lends his name to the annual celebration of the book, and the author, on the anniversary.
6. Leaves on a shelf? : PAGES. Plenty of pages in Ulysses. My edition is just shy of 700 of them.
11. Pampering place : SPA
14. Spheres of study : AREAS
15. Like 1-Across : IRISH. To be sure.
16. Granola grain : OAT
19. "What a cutie!" : AWW
20. Pampas weapon : BOLA. Leg-entangling thing.
21. Slanted text: Abbr. : ITAL
22. "A" on many a cornerstone : ANNO. Probably old cornerstones now that the "CE" designation appears to be more acceptable.
23. He or I : ELEM. Cracking clue. The abbreviated helium and iodine are chemical elements.
27. Lee material : DENIM. Lee jeans. The hard-wearing cotton fabric "serge de Nîmes" eventually anglicized to"denim".
29. Locks : TRESSES
30. Half a repartee : TAT. Tit for?
32. Stick around : STAY. We see "segue" sometimes in the crossword - here's a great example from Jackson Browne as "The Load Out" segues into "Stay".
33. Berliner's direction : OST. The German compass rose, clockwise from the top - Nord, Ost, Süd, West
37. Wee amount : SOU. In spite of the apparently Scottish allusion with "wee", the sou was French.
39. "Glee" extra : TEEN
40. Backing : PRO
41. Belgian diamond center : ANTWERP
43. Expressive tweet space-savers : EMOJI. What's the singular? I have no idea.
51. Cries of clarity : AHAS!
52. Temptation garden : EDEN
53. "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy" speaker : IAGO. Handsome antagonist in Othello, or at least Kenneth Branagh is.
54. Banks on a runway : TYRA. Here she is:
55. Place for a screwdriver : BAR. I'll have a double, please. Lots of ice, California orange juice, Tito's vodka. Sláinte! A good start to Bloomsday.
59. Before, to Byron : ERE
60. Action movie climax : CHASE
61. Toys in laps, briefly : PEKES
62. Newsman Koppel : TED. I don't watch much news TV. Thank you, crosses.
63. Pompeo of "Grey's Anatomy" : ELLEN. I don't watch much drama TV. Thank you, crosses.
64. Hobbit on a quest : FRODO. Did anyone else find Sam Gamgee an inspiring character in the book and a complete pain in the backside in the movie? "Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo!". Ugh.
Down:
1. Elbowed : JABBED
2. Player with an orange-and-black logo : ORIOLE. Baltimore baseball player.
3. Federal Reserve chair after Bernanke : YELLEN. Nailed it!
4. Great misfortune : CALAMITY
5. Anka's "__ Beso" : ESO
6. Michelangelo statue : PIETA. In St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, appropriately.
7. Courier alternative : ARIAL. Not self-delivery? Oh - typeface. Gotcha.
8. Manufacturer of Venus razors : GILLETTE. Did you see that Dollar Shave Club just got bought by for one BILLION dollars by Unilever? That's one heck of a disruptive business model.
9. Immigrant's subj. : ESL
10. Uncomfortable in singles bars : SHY
11. No-goodniks : SO-AND-SOS
12. "Dances With Wolves" natives : PAWNEES
13. If all goes wrong : AT WORST
18. Edge : RIM
22. Short reply? : ANS. Like this is a self-describing crossword answer!
25. Clutch : GRASP
26. Pooh's gloomy pal : EEYORE. One of my favorite characters in the books (not the travesty that is the Walt Disney Studio version).
28. Monster High doll maker : MATTEL. Who? What? Apparently "The entire franchise will be rebooted in 2016, with new face molds, movie animation (starting with "Welcome to Monster High"), slogan ("How Do You Boo?"), and song "This Is How We Boo" performed by Jordin Sparks". So now we know.
31. "Done!" : THERE!
32. C-SPAN fig. : SEN. POL went in. POL came out.
34. Complained under one's breath : MUTTERED
35. Retaliatory act : REPRISAL
36. "Oh, it's fine" : NO MATTER
37. Low-risk wager : SAFE BET. No such thing in my experience.
38. How some foolish things are done : ON A DARE
42. Pallid : WAN
44. Tribute song on John Lennon's "Imagine" : OH YOKO. Nice to see her expanded by a couple of letters.
45. Rattled : JARRED
46. Mom's argument-ending words : I SAY SO. Rarely seen without "because ...".
48. More than see : RAISE
49. Birth city of most of the Osmonds : OGDEN
50. Seafood delicacy : ROE
56. Hotel amenity : ICE. Not in a lot of English hotels. They look at you as if you're crazy if you want a bucket of ice.
57. Org. with 30 franchises : NHL. The National Hockey League. I didn't realize there were so many teams. I think I can name maybe 10 without straining, then I'm starting to hunt and peck.
58. Hawaiian Tropic lotion letters : S.P.F.
This time last week I was in the English north-west, today the Pacific north west, and beautiful weather in both places. I feel charmed! The weather's so nice up here I'm going to stick around for the weekend. Aaaaaand finally ..... here's the grid!
Steve
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to CC and Steve!
No circles, but no problems.
NHL was perped. Several WAGs from a few letters, like MATTEL.
Anyone watching Suits? Has broken out of the mold.
Cheers!
FIW, and not too happy about it. Started at the Mensa site, avoided the reveal, but could not figure out the theme. Finally read the reveal, and circles?! Aagh! So went to Cruciverb and redid it as far as I had gotten -- which was the top 2/3rds and a few below that. Then tried to figure out an improperly-worded reveal. "What the circles represent" might have tipped my off, but "IN the circles" made it less clear rather than more so!
ReplyDeleteThen there were my errors. TaRA instead of TYRA, + no idea about the tribute song except that it was maybe a Japanese phrase about ONO, so had OHA ONO instead of OH YOKO. Which made "toys in laps" PEN_S. Which made me sure Rich had lost it!
The other error was Monster High. Since I'm into cartoons, I've watched it a couple times, but not enough to know all the characters. A voodoo doll maker would fit in the cast very well, so MATTEL just did not occur to me. + Repartee has two related but different meanings, and I fixed on the wrong one. I really wanted BON or MOT, but the initial T was solid. I finally settled on half of TUT TUT. I considered TIT FOR TAT, but was too fixated on the wrong sense of repartee to accept that.
EMOJI is singular, I guess plural can be either emoji or emojis (or emojii?).
{B, A, B+, A-, A.}
ReplyDeleteThere was an IRISH writer named JOYCE,
And what he wrote made Dublin rejoice!
On the sixteenth of June
The town celebrates Bloom
And the writer who on the PAGE gave him voice!
The hobbit out on a quest was brave FRODO,
Hunting a villain worse than IAGO!
The Shakespearean cad
Made a marriage go bad,
But the woman who broke up the Beatles was YOKO!
Pokemon monsters are tech-magical spawnees,
They spawn in cities, and among the PAWNEES!
In ANTWERP and OGDEN,
East and West; even
South, ♪ ♫ way down upon the river Swaneeeee! ♬
Where is the TEEN who likes not EMOJI?
They've conquered cell text, sans ceremony!
Now when TEENS converse
They know that AT WORST
They're still beyond the GRASP of any old fogey!
The SPA had an IRISH BAR on the scene,
Where every Friday a crowd would convene.
Ribs might get JABBED
As the mobbers all grabbed
For the mason-JARRED elixir of IRISH poteen!
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteNo circles for me, as usual, but after the solve I was able to go back and locate MYTH, LORE, TALE and LEGEND, so that was nice. Couldn't figure out what TAT had to do with the clue and was afraid I had made a mistake somewhere, but it ended up being correct I guess. Steve's guess of "Tit for TAT" doesn't seem right to me, but maybe that's the answer.
Everything else was smooth sailing today.
Easy Thursday for me, thanks to some WAGs.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteI slogged through this slowly. Tried INSIDE SCOOP for the theme. That bombed. After getting MY THREE SONS I changed to STORY. OK. One answer at a time. I proceeded that way and pretty soon I was finished.
Not sure who ELLEN was. ICE solved that.
Learning moment, that the Osmonds were born in OGDEN, UT. I worked there for a while. Toured the tabernacle. Very interesting.
Was not aware of the Bloomsday deal. I may have to read that book.
Lots to do today. My last day in Johnsonburg this week. Heading for Chicago tonight.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteJolted before I was JARRED, but otherwise a smooth Thursday solve. CSO's to Misty and Lucina with JOYCE and ESL. Well done, C.C.
DW is a professional grade MUTTERer. I'm usually the inspiration.
"Serge de Nîmes" -- thanks for the learning moment, Steve. I hope that big thing doesn't blow it's top while you're there. Guess you probably do, too. That'd be a 4d. I echo your sentiments on Sam Gamgee.
Hi all. Good morning.
ReplyDeleteLoved the puzzle CC !!!!
Will have to read Steve and all y'all later. Golf outing later this AM halfway to Iowa.
Slow start as I had RIBBED and PIRATE before JABBED and ORIOLE, but after that was worked out it was smooth sailing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve and CC!
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteI spotted and avoided every sneaky clue-trap today except: He or I. Fell for that one, hook, line, and sinker.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAnother enjoyable solve from CC, with just the right amount of chewiness for a Thursday. Lots of CSO's: Bloom for our resident Joyce expert, Misty; _ _ _ and bar for our resident pub crawler, Tin, ESL for our resident Lovely Lady, Lucina, Irish for a few of us ☘, etc.
Nice job, CC, and great expo, Steve, as usual.
Ferm, I have been watching Suits since it started. I am turned off by the ten-fold increase in the amount of "blue" language. IMO, not only is it not necessary, but it seems forced with the only reason being shock value. That said, the new "wrinkles" are interesting enough but I think the writers are running out of plot twists.
Still waiting for le déluge! ☔️☔️☔️☔️
Totally missed those CSO's to you and Tin, IM. D'oh!
ReplyDeleteD-N-F ... I just never need a certain 3-letter "Hotel amenity."
ReplyDeleteSteve you can add all the "_ _ _" you want for your drinks ... I prefer them NOT Diluted!
Fave today, of course, was BAR ... do I need to explain why?
Cheers!
So C.C. is the cruel constructor today. I was thinking that it would be a CALAMITY. The NW was full of white with only Janet YELLEN & PIETA filled. 'Bloomsday' and 'The Factor' were unknowns and I have no idea of MLB teams' color schemes. And my wife has been watching tennis continually since the French Open and I couldn't get Jim COURIER off my mind, with the ARIAL font being the last to fall.
ReplyDeleteThe SW went a little smoother but my FATAL ERROR (almost) was placing a SANE BET instead of a SAFE BET and was stuck on some type of NATAL 'virus' (an area I knew nothing about). I didn't help myself by filling TYRA in the wrong place, 53A instread of 54A, and that caused me to guess PROVO for ODGEN, Utah. 'Pompeo' and ELLEN were unknowns.
EMOJIs and 'tweets'- if they would both disappear life would be a lot simpler and people wouldn't pay attention to what some nitwit tweeted.
Great puzzle C.C. and Steve- how many frequent flyer miles do you rack up annually?
Don't forget the shout-out to Misty, the resident James Joyce scholar.
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteVery nice puzzle, C.C. I didn't have the circles, but I worked around it. Steve, your commentary set me straight.
I read Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man at a perfect moment in my life. I was in college; I will never forget it. It's wonderful when that happens.
When I was teaching Tale of Two Cities, I realized most colleagues and the students saw Madame Defarge as pure evil. WHAT?! MOI?! She was seeking retribution for the terrible and perhaps horrifying wrongs her family suffered at the hands of the upper class. I used to tell my students, "Wait until you meet IAGO!!!" Now, there's pure evil. As the play progresses, he no longer has a motive for his evil doing! Branagh was excellent in that role against Fishburn's Othello. Branagh doesn't "look" the part. No terrible eyebrows. No upturned moustache. That makes his take on IAGO so wonderful.
On that note, I'm off to take more "stuff" to my son's house. This simplifying my life is becoming easier and easier. It's time for my kids to horde heir own s***!!
Have a sunny day--and maybe a little rain if you need it!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteNailed it. The circled fill helped me get the unifier - INSIDE STORY. Favorite fill/clues were those for EMOJI and PEKES - Helped open the SE for me. Liked the signature ORIOLE. Barry's take on TAT I agree with. Tit for TAT is a repartee. Tit would have been OK, too. Agree with Steve about SOU.
OST is an adjective. The noun, Der OSTEN, is MALE GENDER. Grew up hearing from my Mom about der OSTSee (Baltic). Schleswig-Holstein sits squarely between the Nordsee and the Ostsee.
Kudos to C.C. on a great job. Fresh and with a good solving cadence.
Thanks CC, Steve and Rich
ReplyDeleteCC, plenty of inventiveness, as ever, but a touch too many TV tie-ins for my liking. On the other hand, only one Baseball clue!!!
• Other gripes, which you can blame on Rich - after all, that's what he's paid for:
- MALE GENDER is an attribute of many GERMAN PEOPLE. MASCULINE GENDER is a feature of many GERMAN NOUNS.
- He and I are SYMBOLS, not abbrs. Otherwise, a clever clue.
- I agree with Steve: invoking a Scottish word (WEE) for a French simile (SOU) is just not cricket in my book.
- I suppose DEATH is a SYMPTOM, even for a computer.
- EMOJI is singular etymologically, although in English it is sometimes used as a plural too, I suppose because many languages use the -I ending to make a plural. What do the Japanese do?
- TIT-for-TAT = Repartee? Spy Games perhaps......?
Steve -
- I think "Inside Story" is OK defined as "Private Details". "Information or an explanation that is known only by people closely involved with something"
– I agree that Sam Gamgee in the movie was irritating, but it was a tough role to play. His role in the book was tied up in the early 20th Century British Class system, while Lord of the Rings was supposed to be set in a fantasy time - Middle Earth - so to play it straight would have been confusing, esp. to the US audience.
Abejo: I would start with "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", as noted above. I would tack Ulysses when you have a year or so to spare; alternatively, just quit after the first few chapters (when it becomes largely incomprehensible) so at least you will never forget who Bloom is, or the opening line:
ReplyDelete"STATELY, PLUMP BUCK MULLIGAN CAME FROM THE STAIRHEAD, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed."
Almost as famous as "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
Or the more modern, and rather long:
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea." (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams, 1979)
• A couple of clues inspired by today's crossword:
ReplyDelete"On-line Pampas Weapon of Mass Destruction?" = EBOLA. [E-BOLA]
"Has a space problem? Apparently not!" = NO MATTER
• Did anyone notice JABBED and JARRED? This could make a mini-theme: one might add JAGGED, JAMMED, and JAZZED, to name a few.
C.C., thank you for a beautiful puzzle of four TALEs masterfully constructed. Once I had LORE and LEGEND, MYTH filled in but had to wait for the next one. FATALERROR told it.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss: you are so gracious in your citation of the shouts out, thank you. I, too, thought immediately of Misty at James JOYCE, Tin at BAR, and you at IRISH and fondly recalled my ESL days. What fun!
Sadly I also had TARA instead of TYRA. It's hard to keep up with celebrities' names as well as sports franchises. Initially I had NRA and CRASH then forgot to erase the A and of course know nothing of ELLEN Pompeo. Now, if it had been the other ELLEN . . .
So well done, C.C. and splendidly reviewed by Steve.
Have a joyous day, everyone!
Thank you CC for a very nice puzzle on which Steve wrote so elegantly. Nice Cuppa - you are a pretty good master on clues and crosswording yourself. Your point on German males, genders and masculines are duly noted. Now, those, like the Germans themselves, are a very precise concept. As for Ulysses, that will have to wait until my next reincarnation. I am too busy right now.
ReplyDeleteHe(leium) and I(odine) are ELEM.’s Duh! C.C.’s puzzles always provide cleverness and challenges. Coupled with Steve’s always erudite write-up makes for a lovely day.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-On C.C.’s Sunday puzzle I posted a picture of John Wilkes’ brother as IAGO in 1871 in the write-up
-A recent TYRA metamorphosis
-It was a CALAMITY in 1972 when Lazlo Toth vandalized the PIETA
-The PAWNEES along the Platte watched settlers come into the land around here
-It’s a SAFE BET the presidential debate will draw many viewers
-After an email dialogue with AnonymousPVX, I think I am going to try this for ICED coffee
To add to Nice Cuppa's advice, I would even suggest starting with The Dubliners. It is one of the greatest short story cycle collections of all times, along with Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle!
Its funny to me that yesterday's puzzle got glowing reviews, while today they are mixed. I LOVED CCs work today, but yesterday's was way too difficult for me - especially for a Wednesday. My high school English teacher once said that our entire class was made up of "leather tongued heathens", so that may explain it.
ReplyDeleteI think the new application in the LA Times online version is more modern and probably safer to use than the old version, but I'll miss seeing the circles.
I admit that I approach C.C.'s puzzles with trepidation, due to my complete lack of sports knowledge :) But this one I really enjoyed - thank you! And thanks to Steve for the entertaining walkthrough.
ReplyDeleteA previous colleague of mine always spent Bloomsday by imbibing a few too many pints at lunch (and probably after work), but we covered for him as our way of honoring James Joyce.
I appreciate Nice Cuppa's food for thought comments today. And thanks for the laugh re lap toys, OwenKL.
I was so excited to see a C.C. puzzle this morning, and when I looked at that first clue, I yelled out "Woohoo!"--which almost had my dog Dusty flying off the couch. I couldn't believe the puzzle started out with JOYCE, my specialty and my literary hero (many thanks for the CSO, everybody--how kind of you all!). And then it got even better when 15 across turned out to be IRISH! Yay! So, C.C., you've made my day and this will be my favorite puzzle of all time. And I loved all the blog comments in relation to this, and the sensible advice on reading 'Ulysses'--although there are reader's guides available for anyone really determined to get through it (I'm working on one right now that's scheduled to be available on Amazon sometime this fall or winter).
ReplyDeleteFun theme, and lots of other fun clues, and a great expo by Steve. What a great way to start a Thursday.
Have a terrific one, everybody!
Just a curiosity thing, where do you get the puzzle without the circles? They appear on the LAT web site version on-line, the printable version from that site, and on the PUZ file from cruciverb. I can see where the puzzles with circles might be a bit dull without them. BTW, this was an enjoyable solve for me . . .
ReplyDeleteAlways feel it's going to be a good day when I open the paper to the crossword page, & see C.C.Burnikel. Obviously lots of fun to puzzle out, & lots of banter on the Blog afterwards...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately a DNF, probably because I fortunately could not recognize "calamity" & "great misfortune... Also, I would have complained that 23a He or I as a clue for "elem" was below the belt, if it were not for the Thursday difficulty...
Learning moment: Bloomsday? (hmm, wait a sec, still learning about that one...)
Lots to link, but where to start without without boring you. Hmm, perhaps It was a dark and stormy night...
Steve, sorry you find the film version of Sam annoying, I found him inspirational.
Hmm, maybe if we change the movie music...
Also, speaking of music, everyone loves John's masterpiece Woman.
But I would behoove you to listen to the story told in the words to Oh Yoko...
Also, speaking of lore, legend, myth, & tale. Can some one please tell me what (or who) made up the civilization that was wiped out by the Great Flood?
"Puzzling thoughts":
ReplyDeleteBack from a short vacation in the Keystone State - visited w a lifelong friend and actually went to a baseball game at ORIOLE(s) Park at Camden Yards. This was one of the first of the "new era", "back to the future" style stadiums, introduced in 1992. It led the transition from the "cookie cutter" stadiums (which started with the Astrodome) of the 1960's-1970's, and is still a great place to watch our National Pastime.
CC had a great theme, as did Jeff Wechsler yesterday. I canceled the paper while gone, so yesterday and today were my first stabs at the LATCW puzzle in over a week. I admit I did have to Google a few answers but so be it
Lots of fun SO's (even I had one yesterday); I couldn't "get" the reveal (INSIDE STORY) until I had a few perps emerge in the South Central section of the grid. But few ink blots.
We enjoyed a brief visit to the PA Dutch (Amish) country; I know if I lived there still, I'd be at least 50# overweight instead of about 15-20. Man is their food tasty!
Of course, today's puzzle included a word that brings to mind one of my favorite limericks:
There was once a young girl who begat,
Three male babies, named Nat, Pat, and TAT.
It was fun in the breeding,
But pure Hell in the feeding
When she found there was no "tit for TAT"!
As much of this as I could finish was fun! Thanks, C.C. and Steve.
ReplyDeleteDidn't get 1a so went to 1d, then 2d. Player with orange/black logo: Bengal! Cincinnati football! BZT. Then BILL O'REILLY stuck his nose into the puzzle and I had to rethink the team.
60a: Action movie climax--CrASh. Left it in for far too long. Finally had to come here to check out the grid and get corrections.
Enjoy your day!
Pat
Hated today. Put awe instead of aww. Threw me off.
ReplyDeleteFinished with the help of red letters. ~!~!
ReplyDeleteWow 4 days in a row with ICE in the puzzles. I was gonna say something Tuesday about 2 days in a row but.....
Plus Tard from Cajun Country ~!~!
My big mistake was not noticing that it was a CC puzzle. Then I might have got NHL and ELLEN?? I just guessed the author wanted some MLM type franchise
ReplyDeleteHaving read LotR many times, the movie depiction of Sam seemed fine. He's the hero, of course. The point one might say of the whole saga
MTS had a character who was Spin in the 50s Spin and Marty
Didn't the old Broncos have orange uniforms for awhile?
Agree about Mme DeFarge. I always identified with the hero(?) getting stinking drunk and still putting out quality work. Didn't work out so well for me😁
The Flood people, originally were the early Sumerians. The Jews learned the TALE during the captivity. But it took deciphering Cuneiform to reveal it.
"The Idiot" by Dostoevsky seems similar to Joyce's STORies.
Originally there were Six. (NHL teams)
Speaking of Tolkien. Anyone get an answer to my Strider post yesterday?
This puzzle had C.C.'s DNA all over it, especially in the theme gimmick of a location and noun (INSIDE story). Other examples of typical C.C. might be reveals such as loose ENDS, white CAPS, UNDER standing, Sky FALL (a real puzzle she made), etc.
ReplyDeleteHand up for PIRATES before ORIOLES. Entered ----O until the perps indicated whether it was going to be FRODO or BILBO. I agree about Sam Gamgee. It seems to me he was the real hero of the story. Frodo always struck me in a similar way Harry Potter did, namely staring open-mouthed in awe at the events going on around him with little understanding of their meaning or how to deal with them.
I guess EMOJI is also plural. Wikipedia says it is, as is emojis. They even say, "Emoji are used much like ..." Sounds sorta British: "Microsoft are ..."
I also fell for "He and I" hook line and sinker. Tricky C.C.!
Best wishes to you all.
ReplyDeleteMark McClain, many solve using the LINK AT AMERICAN MENSA
Loved the puzzle.
Denver was the Orange Crush defenses of its time with linebackers Randy Gradishar and ESPN regular Tom Jackson.
Wilbur, I agree, I enjoyed Sean Astin and his interpretation of the character.
Wilbur people often comment late at night in response to other posts.
Clue of the day: He or I : ELEM.
Wilbur Charles@3:31
ReplyDeleteBeing a Tolkien fanatic, I went back to yest to find the Strider question.
The only post I found was:
---
"Wilbur Charles said...
I wonder if the recent Pixar clue/answer which had NEMO was in our collective minds, add me to the list
Do folks remember where the Car 54 cops came from? ie. Their previous sitcom?
Of course, we just called them shows back then."
------
So, of course I got totally sidetracked looking for Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne, AKA "The Stomach" in the Phil Silvers Show. Unfortunately I cannot find them in the same episode together...
Which led me to get sidetracked further by trying to learn Cuniform,
which led me to This interesting piece of modern technology.
Which made me realize I am not looking for Ancient Sumerians at all, I am looking for
a civilization that was wiped out probably before 12,000 B.C.E.
Something that existed during the Ice Ages, & was wiped out by the flood...
(Now there's a story that hasn't been retold lately...)
Wilbur: any Strider comment must not have registered. Can you make it again?
ReplyDeleteI tried reading Ulysses a few years ago. Figured with my cryptic puzzle experience, I'd get some of the depth of it. Instead, nothing. Was so bored by the first chapter, I never even got to chapter 2. Didn't know the chapters were each in different styles, or I might have plodded on.
Gilgamesh.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteAWW crud. Just outta my GRASP. FIW... My FATAL ERROR was (not) a SurEBET and I left tAN in at 42d when I got SAFEly around to fixing 37d but had no idea what 41a's clue meant [post puzzle I looked up Belgian diamond to see if they did have a baseball team and who played center... - um, no and no one].
Thanks C.C. for a great puzzle filled w/ sparkle and another innovative concept. Thanks Steve for the expo (I was sure 37a was wrong and that I'd really bolloxed things up - SOU? I had no clue what that ANS meant).
I got the unifier early on which gave me TALE @47a but RATLER?OR didn't make a lick of sense.
WOs: David b/f ESP got me PIETA and the aforementioned SurE BET (damn, I even lose those!)
Near fav: c/a for RAISE; I was going down the ogle path. ELEM c/a was devilish. ICE next to NHL was cute.
Fav c/a for 32a just cuz it made me think of SNL's Thing that Wouldn't Leave.
{B+, A, A-, A, A}
IM nailed the CSOs - It's a stretch but I'll take ILALia :-)
M. Defarge - You? Evil? Only to your Son's Stuff (Carlin 5min) :-). My Bro's been in the army 16 years - his room at Pop's house hasn't changed since he enlisted; Cardinal's pennants and all are still on the wall.
C.C. - Sorry, but you put EMOJI (@3:18) in the pzl. Compulsion is a terrible thing to waste.
Nice Cuppa - Re: Gamgee's role - You're selling us US audience short. We get it. For the record, I've not only memorized the intro HGTTG but I still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. Now about those little green pieces of paper which, on the whole, were't unhappy. Make a BET w/ one? ON A DARE? PRO: AT WORSE, I lose again :-)*
Cheers, -T
*NO MATTER - it's just .0015 Bitcoin.
Owen, first kudos galore for your pieces and I enjoyed "Tit for tat". And of course I agree about CC's 'handwriting'. Steve, too, excellent job. I'm always so late don't formally appreciate (my rhyme of the day)
ReplyDeleteRe. Strider..
There's a recently republished book "A Man Called Intrepid". About Stevenson
Among his exploits was the rescue of Neils Bohr from the Nazis in Denmark. Bohr's alias was Underhill. Ring a bell?
And if you juxtapose I N T R E P I D with S T R I D E R and add the S for Stevenson...
After figuring this out, I wondered if J.R.R. ever got a visit from British Security.
Next I'll reveal who Hari Selden is, historically. If there's interest.
A lovely pzl, a merry chase from our own CC!
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with Steve's gentle complaint about MYTH not occupying an INSIDE position, I too enjoyed this to a degree that overrode minor objections. I was impressed with the keenness of CC's eye in spotting the theme words lodged within the longer phrases. Good job!
Thanks for posting the pic of the PIETA, Steve. I have had the good fortune of seeing this extraordinary sculpture "live" twice. One time was, as may be expected, in its chapel within St. Peter's in the Vatican about a dozen years ago. But an earlier occasion was back in 1964 in Flushing Meadows, at the New York World's Fair. I remember that first time vividly because we got to see it up very close, and even though it was positioned behind a screen of bullet-proof glass, it was very well lit, and the creamy texture of the statue's surfaces drew one's eyes into the experience of Mary cradling her son.
I forget how long we were allowed to observe it, but it was strictly limited by the walkway we stood on, a moving conveyor belt that prevented any group of art lovers from hogging their time in front of Michelangelo's masterpiece. Years later, when I saw it with no glass and no belt, I wondered why the Vatican hadn't picked up on such modernization.
Myth, legend, tale, lore...
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess I will never find out what people were like before the great flood.
But we keep digging up mysterious anomalies, like Gobekli teppe, which has been dated to 10,000 B.C.
While the stonework is remarkable, it looks crude compared to works that are claimed to be much older. Even the Inca state that these works were not made by them, but an older, previous race. (cue the twilight zone theme here...)
But, I digress.
(Non flight enthusiasts can skip the following)
If you would like to relive a time that is quickly falling into legend,
then I suggest purchasing for $9.99 IL-2 Sturmovik, Cliffs of Dover.
With a decent computer, & a joystick (with twist for rudder)
you can soon be doing this:
Spitfire/Me109 dogfight.
Note the damage on the Spitfire, & all the different viewpoints.
& especially the ground! you can see minute details in even the fields!
This clip is taken over Hawkinge field a few miles west of Dover.
But you can also fly under the London Bridge, or over Big Ben.
The amount of detail is incredible. In addition to beautiful historical Churches
& castles, you can even fly over (or land at ) Stonehenge!
(Sometimes, I just follow a road,or a railway, or a river, just to see where it goes...)
Unfortunately, this simulation was created by the Russians years ago, sold by the French to the U.S. half finished, taken up by a group of British computer experts called Team Fusion, & turned into one of best flight sims available today. In order to fly with up to 100 other people online in real time, you have to download & install (latest count) 5 modifications to the game. (Not an easy thing to do...)
Luckily, (& tying in with the puzzle, you thought I went off on a tangent didn't you...)
there is a Gentleman with the screen name of "Fatal Error," who is looking for new pilots,
(because flying alone with all these experts is suicide...) & will gladly walk you thru all the Mods & maps & virtual cockpits.
With Teamspeak, you can talk to people online all over the world in real time.
(I often fly with a guy named Spook, who is in Australia, so late nite flying is early morning for him...) or lots of Brits, or fly a Me109 (except most of those guys speak German..)
One note of caution:
A fast computer is a must!
Latest video graphics cards are a constant expense!
It helps to know how to fly a plane!
Rudder pedals would be awesome!(but at $300- I can't afford them...)
Fly with a group, because some of the guys you will be flying against
have all the latest stuff (ALA George Carlin) including 60 inch TV's
& extra side screens for virtual cockpits etc...
Here are some gun cam pics.
(note that I am usually the guy in front of the gunsight, & not behind it..)
& finally, (Yeaah, I'll shut up...) A website you need to know...
Late to the party, but Zero Mostel played Bloom in the play "Ulysses in Nighttown", then he played Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' "The Producers". Max's accountant was Leopold Bloom. In the 2005 movie the wall calendar in Max's office shows it to be June 16. That night Leo asks "When will it be Bloom's day?"
ReplyDeleteWilbur, it's been a long time since I read the "Foundation" trilogy, so don't leave me hanging on Hari Selden.
Oh, I forgot to mention.
ReplyDeleteFor IL-2 Cliffs of Dover, you will need some kind of head tracking hardware.
Ed Tracker is is the hardware of choice, but expensive.
I use Track IR,
which is affordable, but prone to reflection interference in bright environments.
But the ability to look in any direction, just by turning your head,
while leaning in/out, or left/right, is invaluable in a dogfight.
Okay bellicoes. First you'd have to agree that'The Foundation' is a history of capitalism. Hari is the founder.
ReplyDeleteAnd.
If you take the German spelling of Nathan Ratshilde (Rothschild)
N R A T S H I L D E
with
H A R I S E L D E N
What have we got?
I never did track the history to reveal more. He does have a chapter called(?) The Traders which seems to match with the investment bankers of the 18th and 19th centuries. I just didn't have the research material to track it.
Sorry, I meant billicoes. I think smart phone(mid) corrected it
ReplyDeleteHand up for SurEBET before SAFEBET!
ReplyDeleteThought I got it all. but I spelled her name YELLiN instead of YELLEN which left me with a mystery about ELiM for He or I. Hence FIW.
That He or I clue was brilliant, so I am sorry I just missed it!
No circles for me, but I found all four INSIDE STORY answers!