Theme: Beyond Medium - Well, well, well done.
20A. Position of football lineman J.J. Watt : DEFENSIVE END. End well.
28A. Average, in math : ARITHMETIC MEAN. Mean well.
42A. Fountain treat with Bosco, maybe : CHOCOLATE SHAKE. Shake well.
47A. Echoic remark before "What do we have here?" whose words can follow the ends of 20-, 28- and 42-Across : "WELL WELL WELL"
Argyle here. Argyle here (with a sense of déjà vu).
Author:
1. 24 minutes, in the NBA : HALF
5. Giant among wholesale clubs : SAM'S
9. Heat unit : THERM
14. Rideshare app : UBER
15. __-deucey : ACEY
16. Great Lakes mnemonic : HOMES. Test yourself.
17. Author Wiesel : ELIE
18. Improbable tale : YARN
19. Candy heart message : I LUV U
23. Sound heard by a shepherd : [BAA!]
24. Intense, as a competitor : FIERCE
33. Unsteady on one's feet : AREEL
34. Country rocker Steve : EARLE
35. "__ & the Women": 2000 Gere film : DR. T
36. Divisions of tennis matches : SETs
37. Actress Holmes : KATIE
38. Ticked off : SORE
39. "How was __ know?" : I TO
40. Diamond weight : CARAT
41. Word before Master or case : STAIR
45. Biblical dancer : SALOME
46. For each : PER
54. Many Mideast residents : ARABS
57. Verdi opera set in Egypt : "AIDA"
58. Color similar to turquoise : AQUA
59. '90s candidate Ross : PEROT
60. Hosp. scans : MRIs. (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
61. Road grooves : RUTS
62. Japanese capital : TOKYO
63. Literary sister of Amy, Meg and Jo : BETH. (Little Women)
64. Magnitude : SIZE
Down:
1. Tinged : HUED
2. Having the skills : ABLE
3. Actor/singer Garrett : LEIF. He became famous in the 1970's as a child actor, pop star and teen idol.
4. They're on the house : FREEBIES
5. Prepares to have one's tongue depressed : SAYS "AH"
6. Healthy berry : ACAI
7. Griffin of game show fame : MERV
8. "Auld Lang __" : SYNE
9. Skating danger : THIN ICE
10. Texas __: poker game : HOLD 'EM
11. Big Australian bird : EMU
12. Gun, as an engine : REV
13. The Spartans of the NCAA : MSU. (Michigan State University)
21. Part of NFL: Abbr. : NATL. (National)
22. TurboTax option : E-FILE
25. Hardwood tree that drops acorns : RED OAK
26. Fisher who plays Princess Leia : CARRIE. Daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
27. Come in : ENTER
28. "Queen of Soul" Franklin : ARETHA
29. Equip anew, as a machine shop : RETOOL
30. Ben Stiller's mom : MEARA. Anne.
31. Really bother : EAT AT
32. Clichéd : TRITE
33. Nike competitor : ASICS
37. Superman's birth name : KAL-EL
38. Sci-fi classic that introduced Princess Leia : "STAR WARS"
40. Regains consciousness : COMES TO
41. Poet Silverstein : SHEL
43. Frequent John Wayne persona : COWBOY
44. A cannonball makes a big one : SPLASH
48. Shepherd's charge : LAMB
49. Lamp-to-plug line : WIRE
50. Improve text : EDIT
51. Same: Pref. : EQUI
52. Skating jump : LUTZ
53. Cut with light : LASE
54. Fitting : APT
55. Rock's __ Speedwagon : REO
56. Genesis boat : ARK
Argyle
{A, B+, C, B+.}
ReplyDeleteIf you would have your marriage last
Let never the occasion pass
That you go away
Unless you say
"I LUV U" to your lad or lass!
The little LAMB came to a WELL
Where friendly water nymphs did dwell.
"Come and let us talk to ya.
We fain you'd taste our AQUA!"
He sipped, but "BAA" was all he'd tell!
Some people think search engines, which can answer any question,
Should be accorded more, perhaps divine attention!
Could an A.I. comprehend
Appointment as, say, Reverend?
Then we could say for answers, go to REV, the ENGINE!
Two suitors vied for the heart of KATIE,
They were MR. IS and the links-man, DR. T.
MR.IS was seldom dense,
But he was at present, tense,
When the golfer coached, and fit her to a tee!
[Yes, I know it was Magnetic Resonance ImageS! But you probably know by now that I love purposely mis-parsing. After all, "Parsing is such sweet sorrow!"]
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteWell, it's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I crashed and burned on a Monday puzzle today. ARITHMETIC MEAN just looked wrong to me and I was convinced that was where my problem lay, but once I finally gave up and turned on the red letter help I discovered a typo at CARAT/EATAT was the problem. CARET is, I think, excusable (since it is a real word at least), but EATET? Shoulda, coulda, woulda...
Even without that typo, I thought this was unusually crunchy for a Monday. The aforementioned ARITHMETIC MEAN was rough and there a whole bunch of really minor speed bumps like MEARA, ASICS, LUTZ (wanted AXEL) and EARLE that slowed me down.
At least it wasn't "geometric mean".
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! Fastest time for a puzzle ever recorded by me. Enjoyed it, Kevin! Thanks, Argyle!
ReplyDeleteTook awhile for HOMES to sink in after filling. Duh! Only unknown was DR.T which perped in.
The Sunday puzzle had to be done from the only newspaper I receive each week. I got 'er done and thought it was fun for a change. However, I had eye-strain from the tiny print. My computer was offline for over 24 hours saying I wasn't hooked up. I was, but I think my provider took the weekend off. Either that or the rain shorted out my connection. Very annoying.
My 15-yr-old grandson was telling me yesterday about going to the Kansas City water park last week with some friends. They went down the 7-story high water slide TWICE. I was astonished at his courage which delighted him. This morning the first item on the news when I turned it on: a boy was killed yesterday on that tallest slide in the world. The park is now closed. I am shuddering.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis was a themeless (to me, at least) speed run with nary a drop of Wite-Out in sight. Thanks Kevin and Argyle.
Around here, J.J Watt is often seen as a furniture mover or a character in H-E-B (supermarket) commercials. The furniture mover commercial must not be a very effective ad -- I can't remember for the life of me what product he's supposed to be pitching.
In my ute Rita Hayworth played a very sexy Salome with her dance of the seven veils. Alas, they brought in somebody's head on a platter before she got to complete her routine.
Today we got LUTZ rather than the more frequent AXEL. Didn't fool me.
WELL, this was a Monday speed run even with the crunch - only do-over was changing FREE MEAL to FREEBIES with perps.
ReplyDeleteVery creative Kevin and thanks to Argyle!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Kevin Christian, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteZipped through this quickly. Took a few perps to help, however.
Theme was fine. Made sense.
Had to respell I LUV U a couple times.
Did not know DR T. Perped it.
Did not know LEIF. Perped it. LUTZ was new to me.
Had good sleeping weather last night. A little cool. Put on an exhaust fan and pulled the cool air through the house.
Have to finish my book club book today. We meet tonight. "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy" by Rachel Joyce. This is the sequel to last month's book. "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry"
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Musings
ReplyDelete-A wonderful musical version of today’s theme (3:04)
-A CHOCOLATE COKE was a fav of my yute but fell one letter short
-HALF time scores at NBA games can be a poor indicator of the winner
-Anyone else have to change tennis dividers NETS to SETS and CORD to WIRE?
-I’ll bet you know this characters in this exchange - “This is one of my good suits, Eddie. My Mom's gonna be pretty SORE when she finds out what happened.” “Wait a minute, kid. You're not gonna be a little squealer are ya?”
-Earthquakes in last 24 hr whose Magintude/SIZE >2.5
-ARETHA makes any morning better!
-Pairs of TRITE contradictory sayings
-The Duke as a COWBOY? Yes! As Genghis Kahn? Uh, not so much.
-ARITHMETIC - noun uh-rith-muh-tik; adjective ar-ith-met-ik. Today’s usage calls for the latter pronunciation
Good Morning,
ReplyDeleteThanks for a nice Monday start, Kevin. Fun fill. Caught the theme because the first long fill was a piece of cake. My son played DEFENSIVE END for the IVY (from yesterday) he attended. He had to quit before senior season because the enlightened program would not allow him to play--two too many concussions. Even though that was the saddest phone call we ever received from him, I was very happy with the decision--especially in light of what we know today! Because he was on work study--yup, no athletic scholarships in the Ivies--he proposed serving as an assistant to the Defensive Coordinator. It was fun to watch him on the field as a coach. He was offered a grad assistantship to coach at Nebraska--a Corner fave. He turned it down and went to law school. I'm also glad of that. College coaching is an awfully disruptive life. Look at any head coaches resume. I think they alone keep Bekins Moving and Storage in business.
Nice tour, Argyle. Thanks for the links--especially Aretha!
WELL, WELL, WELL ... it is raining "Cats-and-Dogs" ...
ReplyDeleteLiving in the Tampa Bay Area, LUTZ is an unincorporated census-designated area.
All-In-All, a nice, easy, FUN Monday puzzle. Thanks Kevin!
Good-Job n the write-up Argyle.
Cheers!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteNice succinct intro, Argyle. Thank you.
No serious trouble with the solve. Got the theme in due course which helped ratify a couple of the acrosses.
HOMES - Nice SO to Abejo's ancestral home.
UBER - Like fingernails on a chalkboard without the umlaut. Sigh. über means 'over'.
Über uns der blaue Himmel Over us, the blue sky.
OAK - One of my favorite English words. German Eiche; L. German Eek. (long a sound). Latin Quercus.
Well there is a 4th one in the puzzle but it's not a long fill. STAIRwell
ReplyDeleteI agree it was chewy for a Monday but very doable.
Even though I wince at any sports related clues especially at the start, I sashayed through this puzzle today. Thank you, Kevin Christian! Even the unknowns, EARLE and LEIF, were easily perped and luckily the other names were quite familiar: MERV, BETH, ARETHA, SALOME, PEROT, KATIE, CARRIE, SHEL. No THIN ICE in any of those spots (sorry Tin) just an enjoyable solve.
ReplyDeleteYesterday's puzzle was also very nice and I finished in good time but couldn't post because of an eventful Saturday night involving my car and my granddaughter who now lives with me. Not unexpectedly, fluid leaked out and it started smoking while she was driving, so I responded to a 3:15 A.M. call and with the help of my very good neighbor, drove across town to rescue her and some friends, all of whom live in widely scattered areas of the city. Later in the day the car had to be towed to a repair shop and today I must deal with the problem.
Thank you, Argyle!
Have a peaceful day, everyone!
A nice three-holes-in-the-ground puzzle. Easy, yet fun. Seemed like quite a few proper names.
ReplyDeleteGood Afternoon:
ReplyDeleteLate today due to getting side-tracked by various activities. This was a very enjoyable Monday offering with, as others have mentioned, a bit of a crunch. I like a puzzle that keeps me in the dark about the theme until the reveal and today's fit the bill to a tee. Wasn't Katie Holmes in yesterday's puzzle also?
Nicely done, Kevin C., and nicely detailed, Argyle.
Abejo, I read "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" several tears ago; good to know there is a sequel.
Have a great day.
Nice Monday puzzle. I was in the groove with this one, no cross outs or mark overs and a quick time to boot.
ReplyDeleteThis will not last, haha.
Easy Peasy for me today....that isn't usual! Thanks, Kevin, for an enjoyable romp.
ReplyDeleteOwen, I love your parsing. All of your offerings were fun.
I was initially daunted by all the sports references, but was able to start filling in the bottom, and slowly moved up and in the end got everything correctly without any cheating! A great way to start a Monday, even with gloomy weather and a busy day yesterday and another coming up today. So, many thanks, Kevin!
ReplyDeleteI'll try to check in again later in the afternoon. Have a great day, everybody!
My local Dairy Queen is handing out BEE FRIES as FREEBIES. It's part of their comb-o meal. It's creating quite a buzz.
ReplyDeleteYes, it can get worse-
Eugene O'Neill loved math. One day while pondering the ARITHMETIC MEAN there was a knock on the door. When he asked who it was, a man shouted, "I'M ART, THE ICEMAN"
The rest of the story is history.
FYI - CC and Don "Hard G" Gagliardo created the NY Times Crossword today
ReplyDeleteSorry, but this is really hard to find silly stuff for...
ReplyDeleteDefensive end?
Arithmetic Mean?
No comment...
D-O - that JJ commercial would be for Reliant Energy's First Month Free enticement. I love his commercials, but enough is enough already. But he's a good guy, I'll give him that.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice kinda crunchy Monday puzzle. Thanks, Kevin C., and Argyle.
ReplyDeleteI got the theme on my own for a change. I usually don't think to look for it.
Hand up for cord b/f WIRE. Had ARITHemTIC MEAN until Anne MEARA corrected that. Otherwise, no problems.
Bluehen, I hope your surgery was uneventful and your recovery is 100% better than last time.
I'm linking a photo my brother took of last nights sunset just because it's beautiful. Sunset
Happy Monday!
Pat
Had no idea about the cross of KALEL and SALOME. Otherwise a quick solve, even for me. I had to fix SAY AAH When I got to DEFENSIVE END, but everything else fell into place the first go round.
ReplyDeletePJE, that is one great photo! Thanx for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous sunset photo. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteNot a HALF BAAd puzzle Kevin. WELL SET-up for Monday grid-ENTERin'. Thanks.
Thanks for the expo Argyle and Blues Brothers link - I LUV that movie.
WO: Hand up HG - cord b/f WIRE.
ESPs: SALOME, LEIF (the I was a WAG), ELIE, & AIDA.
Fav: How can you not love CARRIE Fisher w/ STAR WARS in the same puzzle? Bonus: KAL-EL!
{A, A, B-, B+}
PK - Oh my re: water slide.
BooL - Nice catch w/ STAIRwell
Jerome - ha!
PJE - WEES - beautiful.
CSOs - DW & MIL in Lucina's list of puzzle names.
D-O & TX Ms: J.J. is gracious to Scott McClelland too. Have you seen the H-E-B blooper REEL?
I was listening to Market Place (remember Kai Ryssdal two weeks ago?) and they had a story on the trending #First7jobs. Paperboy, Med LabTech (Army Res.), Runner for law firm, Bartender, *, Environmental Lab Tech, Network Engr, Consultant. What's your 1st 7?
Cheers, -T
*I left out DQ (1 wk). I hated it - They'd get SORE & I'd get in trouble when putting too many peanuts in parfaits (supposedly Bustin' w/ em!?!).
pje - Gorgeous phtograph!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteGood Evening, Argyle and friends. WELL, WELL, WELL ~ three holes in the ground! A tad crunchy for a Monday, but easy enough to ease into the work week
Tim Rice and Elton John did an adaptation of Verdi's AIDA, which I saw on Broadway several years ago. The original Verdi is also sometimes performed outside at the Great Pyramids in Egypt.
ELIE Wiesel died recently. I had the honor of hearing him speak several years ago.
The National World War II Museum in New Orleans currently has an exhibit entitled the Road to Tokyo. It is a fascinating and interactive exhibit explaining how the US got into the Pacific theater and the battles fought. It is well worth the visits if you are in New Orleans.
QOD: Life stinks, but that doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy it. ~ Dustin Hoffman (b. Aug. 8, 1937)
Have you noticed how almost nobody is 'affected' by circumstances these days? Rather they are usually 'impacted' instead. Is it because 'impacted' sounds more dramatic than 'affected'?
ReplyDeleteAnon-T, Thanks from the Texans' die-hard fans. Sorry, Cowboys, or it could be interpreted as Sorry Cowboys! Enjoyed the clips - gonna revisit the blooper reel.
ReplyDeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Kevin and Santa!
Cool puzzle. Only perps were MSU and LEIF.
Trotting back and forth to doctors.
Cheers!
WELL, WELL, WELL. I heard from the man at the car repair shop and of course it's the transmission $$$$.
ReplyDeletePK:
I loved the photos! Your brother is talented.
I like to fill without perps on a Monday but even with most of the letters Leia was doing one of those senior things.
ReplyDeleteThat was because I had FIERie for FIERCE.
LUTZ is pronounced Lootz by the Tampanians and don't pronounce Bearss(St) as Bare Ass. Nor, for that matter, omitting the Dr. and the Jr. from MLK.