Theme: Don't be left in the dark - Turn on a light, the party has just begun.
27D. Dizzy ... and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues: LIGHTHEADED
3D. *Screenwriter's work for the first episode: PILOT SCRIPT. Pilot light
19D . *Orangy Crayola color: NEON CARROT. Neon light
21D. *Simple-to-use: IDIOT PROOF. Idiot light (car dash)
25D. *Symbol of bureaucracy: RED TAPE. Red light
Argyle here. C.C. shines down on us today.
Acrossr:
1. Energizes, with "up": AMPS
5. Onetime TWA rival: PAN AM
10. Lucy's co-star: DESI
14. "Star Wars" princess: LEIA
15. Bakery draw: AROMA
16. "That's so true!": "AMEN!"
17. Misfortunes: ILLS
18. Las Vegas loser's complaint: ROTTEN LUCK
20. ["Get off the stage!"]: [BOO! HISS!]
22. Word with dog, horse or lion: SEA
23. Bank acct. posting: INT. (interest)
24. Critter "in the headlights": DEER
26. Worked hard: TOILED
30. Spoken: SAID
32. Make on the job: EARN
34. Explosive emotion: IRE
35. Eight, en español: OCHO
36. Like some committees: AD HOC
37. Martini ingredient: GIN
38. Jack of nursery rhymes: SPRAT
39. "Give __ chance!": IT A
40. Grate residue: ASHES
42. Chinese-born architect I.M. __: PEI
43. Techie's hangout: PC LAB
45. "Doggone it!": "RATS!"
46. Dada pioneer Jean: ARP
47. Speak hoarsely: RASP
48. Landmark on Missouri's state quarter: ARCH
49. Georgia, but not Florida: NATION
51. Vatican City currency: EURO
53. Uncanny claim: ESP. (every single perp)
56. Crime syndicate leader: DON
57. What a judge may do during an arraignment: SET BAIL
59. Grecian Formula competitor: JUST FOR MEN
64. Invention beginning: IDEA
65. Roughly 30% of Earth's land area: ASIA
66. Fall zodiac sign: LIBRA
67. Denim pioneer Strauss: LEVI
68. Chimed: RANG. "The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times"
69. "No bid," in bridge: "I PASS"
70. Perfect spot: EDEN
Down:
1. "I was home alone" isn't a very strong one: ALIBI
2. Breakfast fruit: MELON
4. Merit badge holder: SASH
5. Analyzed, as a sentence: PARSED, or a crossword answer.
6. Got out of bed: AROSE
7. "__ again!": NOT
8. Invoice no.: AMT. (amount)
9. Leader with a baton: MAESTRO
10. __ Lama: DALAI
11. Big bird from Down Under: EMU
12. "Hold on a __!": SEC
13. Pentel filler: INK. Pentel is the inventor of non-permanent marker technology.
28. Great Lakes natives: ERIEs. Overmuch information on the Eries. Link.
29. Lairs of lions: DENS
31. "Of course!": "A-HA!"
33. Ill-fated whale chaser: AHAB
35. Rossini creation: OPERA
36. Is home sick: AILS
38. Stretch across: SPAN
41. Cul-de-__: SAC
44. Tubular Italian pastries: CANNOLI
48. Concert milieus: ARENAs
50. Suitcase tie-on: ID TAG
52. App downloaders: USERs
54. Kitchen strainer: SIEVE
55. Opposite of everything, in bageldom: PLAIN
58. Rancor: BILE
59. Jelly holder: JAR
60. Land "across the pond" from the U.K.: USA
61. Gluttony, e.g.: SIN
62. Tear (into): RIP
63. Exec's degree: MBA. (Master of Business Administration)
Now turn out the lights...
Argyle
42 comments:
{A, B+, B+, C.}
His ALIBI was PLAIN to see,
With a MELON where his head should be!
"Sorry I was late
For our wedding date,
The Wicked Witch says I cantaloupe with thee!"
Juliet unlatched it, the SASH swung free
With a view of Verona, in northern Italy
Sang out "I love you, Romeo!
Alas, my soul I already owe
To the MAESTRO who cooks my CANNOLI!"
At picking up a girl, he had ROTTEN LUCK!
Saw one standing between an F and UCK
He offered to hire,
She responded with IRE!
Flounced away from the sign that read FIRETRUCK!
Jack SPRAT wouldn't eat any animal fat,
But knew where vermouth and GIN were at!
Used a CARROT stick
For an olive pick,
SAID, "EDEN was vegan, so, so is Jack SPRAT!"
Greetings!
Great work, CC and Santa!
No problems. (But the WA Post puzzle was hard today.)
Have a great day!
{A, C, C, B-.} The low grades reflect serious poems instead of funny ones like they should be. :(
I used to keep SIN in a JAR.
It was much more convenient by far.
I could just take it out
And wave it about!
Now it's wrapped in RED TAPE and Mylar!
Something is ROTTEN in the U.S.A.
There's an AROMA about of ILLS and decay!
In the SEAS, a gyrus
Of plastic defies us
But our NATION just keeps throwing away!
A LIGHTfoot song that's really "deep"
About twenty-nine sailors and where they sleep:
"The church bell chimed,
RANG twenty-nine times"
On the shore where their families weep.
He TOILED away, each IDEA hit or miss,
To build a puzzle that would live in myth!
Make solvers "AMEN",
Then work it again! --
But instead garnered only cross words: BOO! HISS!
Bageldom??? Spell check fails to understand and so do I???
Terrific, fun, perfect Tuesday CW, thanx, C.C.!! NW was last to fall. Didn't think of SASH when SCOUT didn't fit. Always wanna spell it LEAH, not LEIA. For some reason AMPS was difficult to dredge out of my brain. Anyway, great CW!! Outstanding write-up, too, thanx, Argyle!!
Good morning!
Thanks, C.C. and Argyle. This was even quicker than yesterday. Totally missed the asterisks, and expected the theme to be hidden in the long across answers. D'oh! Would you believe I didn't get it? Some things never change.
To anonymous When you graduate from donuts to bagels you'll get it
You can get an "everything" bagel, or just a Plain bagel.
I missed the puzzle yesterday while flying back to Florida after a cold holiday in the North, so this was a good start for my week.
As a toolmaker when I was instructed to make a jig or tooling fixture IDIOTPROOF, meaning so it couldn't be improperly used, my reply was that it was impossible to do so because idiots are very ingenious.
Faster than yesterday and no sports or obscure names, thank you, C.C.! DALAI, LEIA, DESI, and LEVI are well known.
And the theme actually lit up for me today.
Thanks, also to Argyle.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Good Morning!
A good bagel is hard to find! Luckily for us, we have a great bagel bakery nearby!! PLAIN and Everything included. None of this Einstein bread stuff.
Thanks, C. C. and Argyle--although, Santa is certainly more appropriate now. The puzzle was fun. Like D-O, themes often elude me--probably because I focus on my ups and downs, missing the bigger picture. Hmmm--sounds more like a life lesson than a CW topic!
Nice start to my day again.
Nice to hear from Montana yesterday. Hooray, Spitzboov and YR!
Have a lovely day.
Thanks CC & Argyle.
I find I have to think about spelling words I know but haven't needed, in awhile, like DALAI and LEIA. It took me a long time to get simple SEA. When one is out of the habit of solving crosswords, even the easy ones can be a problem.
CanadianEh! CFL Coach of the year (who just lost the Grey Cup) is a Montana product. Quite a football star in his youth. Back in 'antenna' TV days we had more Canafian stations than local ones (3-2). We followed Canadian football all season.
We had an incredibly warm November in Montana but it snowed a little yesterday and it is chilly enough out that it stayed on the ground.
Good time to sit inside and solve crosswords!
Now, if I figured things out yesterday, I should be able to post this.
I remember being frustrated with my iPad and puzzle because the touch on the letters along the edges was unresponsive. It was a real chore to work a puzzle. I followed all the HELP article's advice but that only helped a little.
I don't have that problem now, and I'm using the same iPad so it's good to be back.
Keep warm,
Montana
Good morning all.
I am so disappointed.
In myself. Decided to slow down, read all the clues, find the theme, and make no mistakes. Got three out of four. No tada. Somehow ended up with EURs going across and NEON CARRsT going down. Can't make that kind of error with pen and paper. I know I had the O originally. Going to have to check the sensitivity of that S key.
Other than that miscue, it was a fun puzzle. Theme was really clever. Got a real kick out of Is home sick = AILS. Thank you CC.
You too Argyle. Read the lore on the ERIES. Somewhat contrasting histories. Interesting. Also liked the Willie Nelson.
I found both Monday and Tuesday puzzles quite fast. Spelling of DALAI was a challenge. I needed the reveal to understand the theme after completing the whole puzzle. Very satisfying puzzle and fine expo. Thanks, Santa and CC.
-dom is a suffix meaning in the realm of, as in Christendom, but is often used humorously. In the world (or area) of bagels you find plain ones and those with everything, meaning ones with onion, garlic, sesame seeds, poppy seeds etc. baked on them. Bageldom, of course, is not used in scholarly parlance, just for fun.
I feel sorry for people whose honest alibi is, "I was home alone."
I know there are different tastes, but IMO NY Jewish bagels are the REAL thing, also available in North Jersey.
Did you see the funny moving company ads with the misfit movers? A cul-de-sac is a dead-end for rich people.
Love fresh filled cannoli. One of the square dancers used to bring homemade cannoli as her treat for the holiday dance. Best I ever ate.
A nice Tuesday level puzzle by our fearless leader, Chairwoman C.C. I'm not up to snuff (translate that idiom into Chinese) on my Crayola colors but the NEON CARROT easily filled by the crosses. I made one mistake early by guessing RAVIOLI for CANNOLI- I've never had eaten cannoli but know the word.
Lions' DENS- I don't know how that saying ever took hold. They don't have dens.
PC LAB- that is so 'last century'
Grecian Formula and JUST FOR MEN- Walt Frazier and all the 70 year old men with dark hair look ridiculous. Ditto for BLONDE Hillary and Donald
IDIOTPROOF- when I had to add some workers to keep the warehouse open another three hours I told my programmers to make the operation of the computers idiot proof so our personnel wouldn't need special training to run invoices and operate the robot picker.
All Good things must end- The Party's Over- Don Meredeth said that back on MNF forty years ago when he thought the losing team had no chance of coming back.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dandy+don+meredith+singing+the+party%27s+over&view=detail&mid=2EC276064094428A67B52EC276064094428A67B5&FORM=VIRE
Greetings to all!
Quick and easy today. A nice change to have the theme answers vertical instead of horizontal. Thanks, C.C., for a fine Tuesday offering, and thanks, Argyle for being our guide.
My breakfast bagel this morning (which I enjoyed while solving the puzzle) was not PLAIN, but rather jalepeno cheddar, one of my favorites from the local bagel shop.
Enjoy the day!
Argyle: Nice write-up.
C.C. Thank you for a FUN Tuesday puzzle. Enjoyed the downward theme.
Fave today was the 20-a answer, ["Get off the stage!"] BOO-HISS ...
No problem with the "Bageldom" term ... Since I live in "Scotchdom" ...
Hmmm, and the "Sun is Over the Yardarm!"
Cheers!
Musings
-¡Buenos dias! Estoy enseñando español hoy sustituto. I’m subbing in Spanish today.
-Over time, your LUCK will always be ROTTEN in Vegas
-Then unknown Prince was BOOED off the stage in LA when he opened for the Rolling Stones
-I’m using a PC today and it’s hard because Joann and I own 5 Apple devices
-How’s this for an AD HOC Committee?
-RASPY voiced singers? Joe Cocker and Janet Joplin leap to mind. You?
-My daughter is “going gray”. I have no such vanity
-Capone’s ALIBI was, “I was in Florida” during the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
-PARSED – Good candidates can twist words 180˚ depending on the audience
-ERIE – “How do I clue thee? Let me count the ways!”
-INK never sullies my crossword efforts
-I never bought this great actor as Captain AHAB (3:11 Trailer)
-C’mon, what do you think of when you hear this Rossini Piece? (3:00)
-Bageldom clue? Typical of C.C.’s wonderful wit!
A lion's resting place is frequently called a den or lair. It is not usually very elaborate. Wikipedia says,"the female giv(es) birth to a litter of one to four cubs in a secluded den (which may be a thicket, a reed-bed, a cave, or some other sheltered area) usually away from the rest of the pride. She will often hunt by herself while the cubs are still helpless, staying relatively close to the thicket or den where the cubs are kept.
Good Morning:
I always enjoy how CC injects a wee bit of crunch into her early week puzzles as it makes for a more challenging solve. I, too, needed the reveal to see the theme and that's fine with me. Spelled Leia Laia, as I usually do. CSO to Abejo with Erie(s). Favorite clue was home sick=ails.
Nice job, CC, and nice summary, Santa!
It's very gloomy here with rain forecast for the next few days.
YR, good to hear of Alan's report.
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
Thanks for the good wishes.
YR, I'm glad Alan is doing better.
Nice intro, Argyle, as always.
Easy Tuesday puzzle. No bumps along the road to the solve. Interesting theme.
ASHES - We had a "Warm Morning" anthracite fired coal stove during my pre-tween years. It was my job to bring up the filled coal hod from the basement to a 'ready' position next to the stove. Also operated the shaker grate as needed, and empty out and remove the ashes and take them outside. I was glad when oil-fired central heat replaced the stove. Still have fond memories of popping corn on the stove on a winter's night.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Great puzzle. Got through it quite easily. Of course, it is Tuesday.
Caught the theme. Clever.
Liked BOO HISS. Liked I PASS for 69A. That is also our Tollway reader in Illinois.
Liked Argyle's links. Good info in the ERIES. Also the Cannoli movie segment was great. I wonder which movie that was?
I have lots to do. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Bageldom?
if only this pilot script went differently...
Neon carrot?
Proof your not an idiot?
puzzle red tape?
Light headed is a sign of aging?
That was a very pleasant Tuesday puzzle. Thanks CC and Argyle.
I thought I kinda knew how to spell DALAI but I wasn't close enough.
The local coffee shoppe has 'Everything' bagels (includes onion). Whenever anyone orders one toasted, the whole place reeks for close to an hour. Aargh!
Cool puzzle, neato theme. Seems to have a lot of 3- and 4-letter entries. It took me too long to get LIBRA, since I am one.
LW and I like the asiago bagels and jalapeno bagels she buys from Safeway. They are, I must say, pretty "bready." I'll eat 'em with or without smoked salmon on them, as long as they are generously buttered.
Husker Gary, I really enjoy your musings.
OwenKL, I especially liked your "cantaloupe" and "firetruck" verses today.
fermatprime, you sure are a woman of few words.
Lucina, I forgot to ask you, what color is your new car?
Best wishes to you all.
Loves me an onion bagel, not so much an everything bagel. For me the aroma is enticing. I am sorry if it offends. Did you notice the great variation of bagel types, textures and tastes in different regions? There are very different regional takes on subs or hoagies and also pizzas. I was mostly disappointed in the differences, looking for a taste of home. I love sampling new-to-me ethnic cuisines, but not altering these old standbys.
Spitz, that brings back to me the large coal fired furnace we had when I was a kid. It was in the basement and heated our room radiators. It required much tending by my dad, including setting the draft and damper, shoveling coal, shaking the grate, carrying out the ashes, and banking the fire when we would be away. We had coal delivered down a chute into a bin in the basement. We kids were always fascinated by the coal delivery. Strange! My BFF had an old-fashioned, even for those days, coal fired cooking range.
I can't hear the William Tell Overate without thinking of the Lone Ranger.
AMEN! I've see the LIGHT!
C.C. always AMPS-up a weekday pzl and today was no exception. Thanks C.C. and thanks Argyle for kicking off the party [love the CANNOLI scene - some guys have ROTTEN LUCK and the DON get the cannoli - BTW, movie is Godfather Abejo].
SEA was last for me to see. Thanks to Nash I knew DALAI was only a one L'd Lama.
WOs: Arid b/f ASIA; eRP b/f ARP
Notables: c/a for NATION. Spent my college days in the PC LAB (actually they were Sparc5 & 10s). And, yes, HG Joe Cocker @RASP.
Fav: Too hard today to pick. You have DON xing CANNOLI before SET BAIL [Gotti anyone?] and then there's AD HOC and IDIOT PROOF... Not to mention GIN to go w/ yesterday's Tonic.
Starting w/ CANNOLI - Across the street from Mike's in Boston's N. End is a non-oily shelled cannoli. I liked 'em better than Mike's. DW said "No Way." Antonia's in Sugar Land and Katy flys shells in from New Jersey. His filling is his grandmother's (for which the restaurant is named) recipe. EDEN!
PLAIN Bagels - best in HOU is Kenny & Ziggy's. They also have real Nova Lox. Now I'm drooling...
GIN - Beefeater w/ Canada Dry, eh?
{A, A, A+, A}{A, A, B+, A}
YR - great news re: Alan. Thanks for the update.
Madame D - Sarah Lee not good enough for you? //ducks :-)
Anytime I've tried to make something IDIOT PROOF I discover I built a bigger IDIOT.
Cheers, -T
Love a good everything bagel,
(but cannot eat all that bread & still lose weight.)
One of the things I discovered was
McCormick Garlic Pepper Seasoning.
It only contains dried garlic, black pepper, & red and green peppers
with a slight amount of sea salt.
I put it on everything I want to taste like an everything bagel...
(It is especially good on hot buttered toast.)
I am sure you can find other blends which may be more suited to your tastes,
but I like this one so much that when I get hungry,
& need to wait for dinner,
I just pop about 6 grinds of this stuff straight into my mouth & the cravings go away...
P.S. Walmart online advertises this stuff for $11.95 (+free shipping)
which is just crazy.
I wait for it to go on sale at Shoprite for 99 cents.
Nothing better than waking up on a Tuesday morning to a C.C. puzzle. And woohoo! I got the whole thing--no look-up, no errors--Yay! A great way to start the day. (Wait till Thursday and Friday come around and you hear me moaning and groaning). But this was a delight. A little popular and other culture--DESI, LEIA, I. M. PEI, JEAN ARP, OPERA and MAESTRO. Surprisingly, little or no sports (unless I missed it). And a really fun theme, which I didn't get until the reveal. So, many thanks, C.C., and you too, Argyle.
And Owen, those were a lot of limericks this morning.
Have a great day, everybody!
Wow, so it IS possible to have a clever puzzle without French, German, Spanish or Chinese references! Who'd a thunk it?
A nice Tuesday puzzle, well clued and constructed, with a theme yet. Appreciated.
YR: "William Tell Overate" -- I think autocorrect is still stuck on Thanksgiving Day.
Busy day today, but I took some time out to solve the puzzle and visit the blog. Glad I did. Very entertaining puzzle that I completed using only the across clues, though some were a little crunchy and the puzzle took me a little longer than normal. Bright theme and cluing. Thank you, CC. And Argyle, as always an excellent job of leading us through the forest. Very entertaining expo, thank you.
Been busy the last several days shopping and cooking for the upcoming holiday. Made a batch of glogg (Thanks, Dudley!) and a half gallon of egg nog to mellow for the festivities. Made two dozen sugar cookies for icing later, and two dozen of my favorites, peanut butter cookies with a chocolate kiss in the center. May make some Christmas M&M cookies if time allows. Made a batch of pink peppermint divinity, and some of MIL's recipe bourbon/cocoanut balls dipped in chocolate. Absolutely decadent. Next I need to get cooking for our annual outing to the Outer Banks next week. I will precook and store three of our meals in Bento boxes: Braised pork loin chops Dijon with wild rice pilaf and broccoli scampi, Tyler's Ultimate shrimp and grits, and Shrimp Newburg (Whatever happened to those great recipes from the sixties?). Two other meals will be steak and baked, and we will eat out a couple of times. OBX has a plethora of great restaurants. A lot of work but well worth it.
Bluehen - you've got me drooling again...
YR / D-O: Alls yous got to do is watch the guy with the Baton. I think I could handle the Triangle...
My Buddy in HS was 1st string offensive line and 1st chair viola. You've never seen a bigger guy playing a tiny instrument. Every time I think of William Tell's Overture I think of him pounding that out. He made State in both endeavors.
C, -T
Really nice puzzle today. The eraser took the day off, mainly because I didn't guess the spelling of DALAI and waited for the perp SEA/dog/horse/lion. I used the theme to double-check my fills before coming here to validate them, but ignored it until I had finished.
Thanks to CC and Santa for a really entertaining Tuesday pastime. We are on the road to the Freightliner factory to learn about servicing our RV. They call it "Camp Freightliner". I'll probably be late chiming in through Saturday while I'm traveling and learning.
Spitz and YR - My pal when I was growing up was the youngest of 12 kids. As the youngest, he had to use a bucket to haul water out of a well for all indoor uses, and haul wood from the shed to the house. Heat consisted of a wood fired pot-bellied stove in the living room. The kitchen stove was also wood fired, with a water reservoir on the left side for all the hot water needs. His mom and sisters cooked three great meals every day - breakfast, dinner (around noon time) and supper. Almost all the food was made right there, although they did buy flour, salt and the like. Bacon and other ham products, beef, milk, cheese, butter, bread and assorted vegetables were produced right there. I thought it was mostly great, except I HATED the fresh milk, butter and bread. Toilet facilities consisted of a two-hole outhouse over a creek. Baths were taken in a galvanized tub hauled into the kitchen. They never considered themselves poor, even though they never had much cash to buy stuff. Great family, hard life.
Bluehen, any chance of sending some table scraps my way?
Jinx, I would love to visit that pal's house, for a few days anyway. Then I'd start missing my favorite shows, flush toilets, hot showers, etc. Could you hear the creek from the bedroom at night? Barbara loves that sound.
Jayce:
My new Honda Accord Sport is white. Unfortunately that was the only one available since it is from 2014. But it is clean as a whistle. Presumably it belonged to only one owner who treated it very well.
Sptiz & YR, I'd forgotten to tell you how wonderful to have positive health reports on you, spitz & on Alan. I hope it continues.
In the morning when I post I'm not really ready to be awake and that accounts for the brevity of my comments. I love reading all of yours written with gusto and enthusiasm which in the wee hours I don't feel and can't express. My hope is that this sleep schedule will not continue.
I had twenty minutes about 3:30 and managed to knock this off and take a quick peek at the blog. Only, then did I notice that it was a CC.
And the reveal finally gave me the theme.
I didn't have any problems but needed some perps, like for ANIMA.
MLB Channel just had the Reggie Jackson story. I put it all on the Yankees, game six 1977, and bought a VW for $100 which got me to IT school, a job and a new life
Thank you Reggie.
Oh. Listened to fascinating turkey talk narrated by a Greenville guy who knew how to cook and eat.
Wow. Six-pack from Owen and some beauties. CANTELOPE (sic). I've got a lot of blue ink to surf through.
Good night.
Ps. Thx Argyle, too. Nothing like Willie to close it out.
WC
Very late to the party but I just wanted to thank C.C. and Argyle for the fun today. Straight-forward solve although I didn't see the whole theme until coming here.
I started with Revs before AMPS but soon was corrected. I smiled at the bageldom clue. Plural for ERIE is not the norm. Enjoyed seeing ILLS and AILS. Aha moment with Georgia, but not Florida.
Land across the pond from the UK could have been CAN.
Montana, interesting that the Calgary coach in the Grey Cup had Montana ties. He and the Ottawa coach had actually worked together in Calgary in 2012-13. I don't understand all the football plays (more knowledgeable with hockey!) but that was a great game.
Night all. (Wilbur even beat me here today)!
Bluehen 2:00 - so pleased to learn you're enjoying glögg. I haven't made any yet this year, but luckily there's still time.
Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to CC and Argylle. Very late for me, so I'll make it brief. Nitpick warning: If you ever play duplicate bridge and say "I pass," your opponents will call the director!
BTW, I've figured out most of the abbreviations used here, but what's WEE?
Cheers
WEE = What Everyone Else
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