Recognizing the theme requires locating the target letters, then reading them backwards to find the theme word. This could be quite a problem if you didn't have the circles in your grid. Let's have a look.
17 A. Spread some gossip : DISH THE DIRT. Slangy expression. I think RIDE goes a bit beyond good-natured teasing into domineering or harassing territory
24 A. Hybrid toaster oven snacks : PIZZA ROLLS. A variation on the won ton - pierogi theme, this mini dough pillow is filled with PIZZA flavored food-like substances. To RAZZ someone is to tease them playfully [though one may always wonder about motivation.]
38 A. He has a nest at 123½ Sesame Street : BIG BIRD. This fowl is large, but not foul. To RIB someone is pretty close in meaning to RAZZING them.
52 A. Stayed on : HUNG AROUND. Loitered or lingered. RAG, to me, seems closer to RIDE than to RAZZ or RIB, so we have a kind of symmetry.
And the reveal -- 63 A. Young player on the rebound ... or, in another way, what each set of circles in this puzzle represents : COMEBACK KID. Indicates an athlete who showed promise, faded, then regained his former prowess. COMEBACK is a coded hint that the theme entry is to be read retrograde, while KID is a synonym for the thus revealed words. So our reveal takes the form of a cryptic clue. I'll admit that it took me a few minutes to suss this one. Fiendishly clever concept put forth by our fearless leader.
Hi, gang. JazzBumpa on duty. Lets see what else is in store. Is there any more teasing hidden in today's entry?
Across
1. Divers' destinations : REEFS. Coral formations that are habitat for many types of underwater life.
6. Japanese cartoon art : ANIME. In Japan, the word refers to any animation. Most other places, it refers to a more or less specific cartoon genre associated with a style that originated in Japan. Examples.
11. "Shoot!" : ASK. Slangy way to encourage a question.
14. Send to cloud nine : ELATE. Make someone happy.
15. Sir Arthur __ Doyle : CONAN. Late night host or barbarian warrior? Nope - the author of the Sherlock Holmes tales.
16. Traffic court letters : DWI. Driving While Intoxicated. A serious and dangerous traffic violation than can cost you a lot of strife and dollars. Don't do it. And I'm not KIDDING!
19. Chow fixer? : VET. This chow is a dog, and fixing means neutering it to prevent the appearance of unwanted puppies.
20. Emphatic affirmation : OH, YES I DO. Imagine someone jumping up and down while clapping. Now imagine the last time you saw a four-word fill consisting of only 8 letters.
21. Paperless tax return option : E-FILE. File electronically, and hope you don't get hacked.
23. Original "Veronica Mars" airer : UPN. United Paramount Network. A TV network that ran from 1995 through 2006, when it was replaced by the CW, a joint venture venture between CBS and Warner Brothers.
27. Surrealism pioneer Max : ERNST. [1891 - 1976] German painter, sculptor, graphic artist and poet. Gallery here.
29. That being the case : IF SO. Then some conclusion ensues.
.
30. "... Mr. Tambourine Man, __ song for me" : PLAY A. Bob Dylan.
32. __ standstill : AT A. Like rush hour traffic. Your oxymoron for the day.
33. Birch or beech : TREE. Deciduous trees of the families Betulacaea and Fagacaea, respectively.
37. Buns and flips : DOs. Hair styles. A bun is a gathered style, while the flip is loose and turned up at the ends.
43. Racing legend A.J. : FOYT. [b. 1935] Retired American driver with 159 wins in a variety of motor sport genres.
45. "Later!" : BYE. See ya'!
46. Absolute : UTTER. Complete and total, as in, for example, a lack of milk.
48. Sharif of "Doctor Zhivago" : OMAR. Michel Dimitri Chalhoub [1932 - 2015] an Egyptian actor, fluent in Arabic, English, Greek, French, Spanish and Italian. He was also an avid horse racing enthusiast and one of the world's top-ranked contract bridge players.
50. Prophets : SEERS. Predictors of the future.
56. Dutch banking giant : I N G. Internationale Nederlanden Groep, involved in all aspects of banking, plus insurance and asset management.
58. Homeric epic : ILIAD. Set during the Trojan war, a 10-year siege of Troy [aka Ilium] in what is now the Anatolian region of Turkey.
59. Philips electric toothbrush brand : SONICARE.
62. "Teen Wolf" network : M T V. Originally Music TV. Now, I have no idea what the M is supposed to stand for.
66. Iron source : ORE. Rust filled DIRT, that the miners must dish out.
67. Go off-script : AD LIB. Speak or perform in an improvised manner. Would I ever do that?
68. Mix : BLEND. Co-mingle.
69. Baby goat sound : MAA. What - no love for paa?
70. Like mosquitoes : PESTY. I had pesky. Made my grid like the next fill.
71. In disarray : MESSY. Not neat and tidy.
Down
1. Second try : REDO. A do over, and for some, a Mulligan.
Well, that wraps up another Wednesday. Hope you were able to tease out all the answers, between my lame attempts at humor.
Cool regards!
JzB
Down
1. Second try : REDO. A do over, and for some, a Mulligan.
2. Philanthropist Yale : ELIHU. [1649 - 1721] A British merchant, president of the East India Company settlement at Madras, and benefactor of the university for which he is the Eponym.
3. "No sweat" : EASY PEASY. A piece of cake.
4. 1862 Tenn. battle site : FT. HENRY. Site of the first important victory on the western front of the American civil war for The Union forces and General U. S. Grant.
5. Match makers? : SETS. In tennis and other sports, a match is divided into some number of sets. The winner of a designated number of sets wins the match.
6. Nailed the test : ACED IT.
7. Brand for serious last-minute preparation : NODOZ. Caffeine supplement to forestall drowsiness.
8. Italian food ending : -INI. As in tortellini, etc.
8. Italian food ending : -INI. As in tortellini, etc.
9. Tarnish : MAR. Inflict damage on.
10. Comes in : ENTERS.
11. Pain reliever sold in Liqui-Gels : ADVIL. Brand of ibuprofen. Some people swear by it. This is called ibuprofenity
12. "Peachy" : SWELL. Groovy, man.
13. Windy weather fliers : KITES.
18. Arms-akimbo joints : HIPS. I would have preferred elbows, but they don't fit. "Akimbo," indicating a hands-on-hips posture, does not look and feel like a native English word, but it does trace back to Middle English "in kenebowe, " "kene" meaning [among other things] sharp, and "bowe" meaning bent. So it's all good.
22. Arch site : FOOT. The longitudinal and transverse arches of the FOOT are formed by the tarsal and metatarsal bones. The arched construction is inherently stronger than a level arrangement, and aids in supporting body weight.
25. Oft-baked pasta : ZITI. In the form of large tubes.
26. Miles away : AFAR. Proper location for loving in a pure and chaste manner.
28. Arrest : NAB. To grab, therefore to catch someone in the act or aftermath of wrong doing.
30. Adobe file format : PDF. Portable Document Format - an electronic file form that is compatible across a variety of platforms and operating systems.
31. Head of a pub? : LOO. Compatible British words indicating a tavern and a comfort station.
32. Prez on a fiver : ABE. Lincoln [1809-1865] the 16th President of the United States.
34. Rodent-eating reptiles : RAT SNAKES. Common in North America, these snakes feed primarily on rodents and birds. Though they can grow quite large, they are docile and make lovely pets.
35. Day before a big day : EVE. The day before Adam's RIBBING was the EVE of Eve.
36. Shucker's unit : EAR. Of corn. Rather like my earie humor.
39. Letter-shaped beam : I-BAR. Named for it's cross-section profile.
40. Pita sandwich : GYRO. Pronounced yeeroh, not homophonic with the the first two syllables of a spinning disc-plus-axis device. The meat is a dense lamb-based meat loaf cooked on a vertical spit. It is served on a pita with diced tomatoes and tzatziki sauce [made from yogurt and cucumbers.] IMHO, the Senate Coney Island in Livonia has the best GYROS in the Detroit metro area.
44. Frat party wear : TOGA. What could I possibly add?
47. Barely flow : TRICKLE. But more than seep or ooze.
49. Wild : MADCAP. Like a TOGA party.
50. Hoity-toity : SNOBBY. Like a social climbing elite wannabe.
51. Flamboyant Dame : EDNA. Everage. One of the on-stage alter egos of Australian comedian, author, actor, artist and satirist John Barry Humphries.
52. Handmade bleachers sign : HI MOM. This year's Hall of Fame Football Classic got cancelled because of field conditions, but 3 years ago it occurred on my Lovely Wife's birthday, and her son Doug, who was in attendance, did this, taking it up a level --
53. Hyper : ULTRA. Taken to the highest level.
I captured this fuzzy image from the TV screen
53. Hyper : ULTRA. Taken to the highest level.
54. Skin "Creme" in blue tins : NIVEA. The blues.
55. Workout buff's motto opener : USE IT. Or lose it!
57. Impish looks : GRINS. Do any of these qualify?
No granddaughters were harmed in the making of this photo
60. SALT weapon : ICBM. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaty started with a meeting between LBJ and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin 1967. Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles and defensive weapons [ABMs] to counter them were items of concern. President Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty and interim SALT agreement on May 26, 1972, in Moscow.
61. Whirlpool : EDDY. If my name were EDDY, I wouldn't travel in those circles.
64. Metered praise : ODE. Laudatory poem.
65. Portland Timbers' org. : MLS. Major League Soccer.
65. Portland Timbers' org. : MLS. Major League Soccer.
Well, that wraps up another Wednesday. Hope you were able to tease out all the answers, between my lame attempts at humor.
Cool regards!
JzB
35 comments:
Sometimes the world seems like a REEF,
Where life and ship have come to grief!
Where wrack of timbers fell
Washed ashore by ocean SWELL --
Or other times life's more like playing fire chief!
Started quick, then struggled with the bottom half just a bit, but finished in my usual Wednedsy time. Fine CW, thanx, C.C.!! Terrific write-up, thanx, JzB!!
Owen, here's a song I wrote the lyrics for, my buddy's band The Stray Dawgs, did the music:
https://youtu.be/AjBAIivXP3c
Morning, all!
Mostly EASY PEASY for me today, despite the lack of circles and no idea what was going on with the theme. ING was a complete unknown and I had to guess at FT HENRY, MTV and MLS, but for the most part I was on CC's wavelength. Oh -- I tried SNOOTY before SNOBBY, which slowed me down a bit down south, but that was really it for snags.
{^A, B+, B+, C-.}
Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador
Conquered the Inca for their oro ORE!
In his honor, his fellas
(Who were very poor spellers)
Cooked PIZZARO-LLS with pepperoni core!
PHILIPS ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH BRAND
Is effectively used throughout the land!
I use SONICARE
Because SON, I CARE
That the spit-shine on my shoes is looking grand!
When the pain in your head begins to SWELL
It's time for the tablet you know so well.
Ibuprofen
Is no token
Pain reliever, when it's sold as ADVIL!
Good morning!
C.C., when do you find the time to come up with all of this imaginative stuff? Of course, I didn't understand the theme until JzB 'splained it. Once again, I failed to read the reveal clue. D'oh! This old dog doesn't learn easily. PESTY seems awkward, but I guess it makes sense that something that pesters would be pesty.
JzB, really enjoyed your Ibuprofenity and "Eve of Eve."
Interesting that INI is an "Italian food ending" that's positioned directly above ZITI, which isn't an INI.
UNCLEFRED
Another C.C. tour with JzB as the guide. I also loved Ibuprofenity, and the CSO to another fallen cornerite EDDY B. The rest was all in wheelhouse, so off we go. Thanks all.
Hi Y'all! Very enjoyable puzzle, C.C.! Very informative expo, JzB!
This wasn't exactly EASY PEASY but it perped well and was another fun challenge. I can't get into the LA TIMES site at all so went to Mensa which isn't smart enough to get the circles. No circles, no theme comprehension.
Never seen NIVEA tins. Didn't know ADVIL by the clue. Didn't know SONICARE. Didn't slow me down much.
"Head of a pub" intrigued me but I went on and waited for perps since Bartender didn't look like it would fit. Forgot to recheck when done. But when JzB splained LOO, I LOLd.
JzB, honey, no SNAKE is a lovely pet IMHO! Shudder! I had one on my back porch at the far which thought he was. I allowed him to HANG AROUND to eat the mice that also wanted to be pets. The lesser of two evils. Kinda like voting for president.
After RIDE and RAZZ appeared in the circles I sensed it but was concerned more about filing the bland squares, and it was EASY PEASY.
I'd never heard of Veronica Mars but UPN was an easy cross fill. The MLS was perps as soccer has got to be the most boring thing I can imagine watching for noting to happen. Anybody love those 0-0 games? Not me.
FT. HENRY- a 'victory' for the Union forces, and history is always written by the winning side but most people don't seem to realize that the North INVADED the South, killing and pillaging, not the other way around. Northern cities weren't burned and farms destroyed. Anybody wonder why the NY Yankees are the most hated team in MLB by Southerners?
Thanks C.C. & JzB
I saw all the circled, backward theme fills and then laughed out loud at the oh-so clever reveal. Coupled with C.C.’s always fun cluing made for a great Wednesday puzzle!
Musings
-All the EARS of corn around here love this high humidity, but I have to play golf in it today as a sub!
-A famous AD LIB scene (3:46) with teleprompter operator UTTERLY lost
-Dang, PESKY gave me a bad cell
-NAB – I got stopped for speeding yesterday and, as it turned out, no driver’s license. I kept my hands on the steering wheel, got the registration from the glove box only when he told me to, answered politely and took the full blame for my actions. I got off with a warning!
-I can’t imagine what crazy Kim Jong Un will do with his ICBM’s
-Yesterday, my dental hygienist recommended I get an ORAL-B or SONICARE electric toothbrush. Hmmm, what is Angela trying to tell me?
-Me too on MLS or any other soccer league! That sport and hockey should use a wider goal!
-What Sinatra song has the lyric, “Won’t DISH THE DIRT with the rest of the girls”? Was he singing of his paramour AVA?
-FORE!
MTV is a channel, not a network.
A PEST is PESKY, not PESTY (no such word, according to the squiggly red line under it as I type).
The sandwich is a GYROS (singular), not a GYRO. We've been through this before.
Great puzzle with appropriate level of difficulty for Wednesday. I can see the circles on the new LAT format, but can't print them. I'll have to develop a new habit of penning them in after I print our copies (DW and I like working on paper copy).
Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.
Worked through this fairly easily. I did have the circles, using cruciverb this morning. I was not dressed to go out and get the newspaper. Once I finished, I studied it hard and caught the theme and circle meanings.
We do seem to get ANIME a lot, so I now know that word.
Years ago I used to use NODOZ once in a while. I was on the road for a living and did a lot of late night driving.
Well, now I know BIG BIRD's address.
I wanted BAA for 69A. However, HI MOM fixed that to MAA.
MTV and UPN are not known to me.
Lots to do today. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Jazz: Wonderful, informative write-up & links.
C.C. Thank You for a FUN Wednesday puzzle.
Hand-Up for pesKy before PESTY that also made my grid MESSY.
Fave today was the HI MOM clue/answer.
Cheers!
Good Morning:
A mid-week treat from CC brings a ray of sunshine to a gloomy, rainy morning, albeit it very hot and VERY humid. Enjoyed the solve and caught the theme early on because of the circles. Agree with PK on snakes: yuck!
Thanks, CC, for "kidding" us in such a pleasant way and thanks, JzB, for your humorous and informative expo.
I'm off to a doctor's appointment; just a routine checkup.
Have a great day.
Big Easy -
Pleas send me an email -- jazzbumpa@gmail.com
Very clever theme and puzzle. Thanks, C.C. for doing what you do---entertaining and challenging all of us!
Nice write-up, JzB. Loved Mr. Tambourine Man... forgot that Dylan did that! Tks!
Good morning to all!
Thank you, C.C., for today's clever entertainment. My favorite clue/answer was 5D Match makers? SETS.
Hand up for pesky before PESTY.
JazzB, thanks for today's expo and chuckles. The day before Adam's RIBBING as the EVE of Eve caused me to LOL.
Enjoy the day!
Another fine entry from our own C.C.!
I worked my way through this one with no theme or goal in mind, relying on perps almost as much as direct answers. It all worked out in the end - except for 11-across, which I seem to have left blank in the middle. I paused after entering "A" and "K" and forgot to go back to add the "S." The reason for the initial pause was that I hadn't decided what the clue "Shoot!" was supposed to mean. There are several ways it might have gone, and my old brain didn't automatically light on ASK. Oh, well.
For the past two days I have been worrying over last Sunday's NY Times Xwd. It has been preoccupying me ever since I came to the answer for "Old Irish character"; it turned out to be OGHAM, a word I had never seen or heard before. Since part of my career was based on languages, it troubled me. I looked it up to discover it is the name for an old Runic-style Celtic alphabet. Glad to learn about it, but puzzled as to why it came as news to me in this later time of life.
I know this is not the place to parse the NY Times pzl, but I just wanted to share a crossword experience with fellow cruciverbalists.
Live, as they say, and Learn....
An ancient joke that dates back to the Cold War, freshly weaponized and poemized:
The arctic is the circle from whence the polar vortex stems,
A cold and frigid place where your sled-dogs are your friends,
Land patrolled by NORAD
For blips of something horrid,
And in every outhouse, they launch IC. B.M.s!
Interestingly (to me)30A reads as PLAYA which we saw yesterday as beach but is today PLAY A song. Thanks, C.C., for a SWELL and entertaining puzzle! You never cease to amaze me with your profound knowledge of English on many levels.
Reading the circled words backwards meant nothing to me, so thanks, JazzBumpa, for fully explaining the teasing part. I also chuckled at your ibuprofenity and the ribbing of EVE.
Most of the puzzle was EASYPEASY with the only unfamiliar MLS which I had no idea referred to a soccer team!! It also trounced me on PESTY which I just could not accept as a real word so left PETTY. FIW!
My favorite clue was for SETS, too. Chow fixer, VET, came next.
PK, I'm with you on SNAKES as pets. A big NO.
Have a terrific day, everyone!
Man oh man, C.C. You sure are good at this. Prolific, too. I loved the cleverness of the theme, and smiled at the way SETS and LOO are clued. Hand up for PESKY. Wanted NO PAIN for 55D, but obviously it doesn't fit. USE IT made me change PESKY to PESTY.
Jazzbumpa, excellent write-up. I enjoy your sense of humor.
Best wishes to you all.
Comeback #1
Comeback #2
unclefred: I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but sending an audio file without a transcript to a [nearly] deaf person is sort of futile. I've played it 3 times so far, enjoy the rhythm, and even picked up a few random bits of the lyrics.
I wish comments on the Civil War were more accurate. The South attacked the North in Charleston Harbor. The Declaration of Seccession was written in Charleston and specifically cited Slavery as the reason for th South's Seccession. Of course, that's not what is taught here in the South, that war is still being fought here. Geez. I have no idea why this is such an issue down here, up North the Civil War is just history, not still a Cause.
Anyway, this was a nicely constructed and clued puzzle.
Greetings!
Thanks, CC and Jazz! Really cute granddaughters, Jazz!
No problems. Mostly WBS (what Barry said, for the newcomers).
Cheers!
Some lunatic is climbing up Trump Tower using suction cups. He has reached the 12th floor, still climbing.
I got Burnikeled(tm)at 37a/31d. JzB great write up
Doyle wrote a medieval novel in which the soldier asked the archer "Why'd you leave the monastery?". "There were 7 reasons, the first was they through me out"
"That is enough for thee and for me" the soldier responded.
In St Pete Ray's fans hate the Redsox but like the Yankees
They imported "pet" pythons which they then discarded and now we have Python hunts to little avail.
My son's crazy about ANIME.
Way to go Punta Gorda PD !
You've set the standard for a new level of police incompetence.
At least the suction cup guy hasn't caused any damage to the property, unlike the police who broke windows and cut metal grilling. Why couldn't the cops just wait on the roof for him?
Re Punta Gorda:
This was not some happenstance of an unavoidable accident. The victim was hit and killed by a live round because the officer involved is a moronic idiot who failed to safely clear his weapon in a responsible manner, drew his weapon, aimed and shot her in cold blood. And who was supervising all this, yet another moron with a police badge? The officer who pulled the trigger was not only reckless and negligent, but criminally liable as well. He should be immediately charged with manslaughter and placed on unpaid leave until a jury decides his fate.
Re: the Civil War, or as they call it in parts of the country where facts are (still) optional, the "War of Northern Agression":
What's a little Treason among friends?
Nice puzzle.
Hi All!
As usual, I'm E-LATE to the party...
Thanks C.C. for the SWELL [@:23 of 3:13] puzzle. Enjoyed the theme. JzB, you were in fine form today! Thanks for the music too.
WOs: MADnes (oops) b/f MADCAP; SNOotY b/f SNOBBY; I was UTTERly ridiculous spelling it UddER (milk & Absolute vodka(?)).
Most WOs, however, (I know you didn't ASK) were in the NW. I put in bEta for my first try @1d (think software) and it ELATE'd me both perp'd. My Divers were searching for bEamS (of light?), I had mT. leary, USA for 23a, and tIll THE DIRT. Since I knew C.C. (nor Rich) would be that clunky... IFSO-facto, I RE-DO'd it. [OH YES, I (just) DO'd that; could yous DOS it? :-)].
It all got fixed it the end but the NW is quite MESSY.
ESPs: NIVEA & FOYT
POP (point of pride): I finally remembered Max ERNST sans perps!
Fav:Pasta! INI over ZITI. Wait, COME BACK?
{B, B+, A, C-, LOL}
Irish Miss - didn't hEAR of Trump Tower KID, nor, Anon @5:53/Jayce, of Punta Gorda. While working, news TRICKLEs in slowly.
JzB - Those who didn't cry at death of the Walkman didn't SONI-CARE. The SST made SONIC ARE (air).
Pure "corn" aloud but not workING AT All in print.
I'll see myself out...
Cheers, er BYE, -T
Jayce @ 6:12 and 6:20 - thank you. My feelings exactly. My heart ached for Mrs. Knowlton's family after the local Houston news channel ran the story. It followed up with the Harris County Constable's Office report of what "firearms" are used in its civilian awareness training. Their "firearms" all looked like they could have been bought in a Target's toy aisle - red or blue plastic guns. Sorry, I hope this doesn't cross the lines of what is acceptable in the blog, but I really feel strongly about this tragedy.
Interesting the negative comments about snakes. I have never heard of a person being chased by a snake. They are usually just sleeping. Bites to humans are almost always defensive.
Years ago when I was preparing for travel to a developing country with various dangers, my travel doctor gave me some important wisdom: When travelling, the two biggest dangers are the same two biggest dangers as at home. What are those?
DOGS and CARS.
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