Theme: "Dropping In" - In is dropped from the start of each theme entry.
23A. Knowing one makes the best moonshine? : STILL CONFIDENCE. Instill confidence.
30A. Pressing concern? : CREASE QUALITY. Increase quality. "Improve quality" sounds more idiomatic.
42A. Vessel for the corporate lake outing? : BOARD MOTORBOAT. Inboard motorboat is new to me.
64A. Where geese learn the ABCs of Vs? : FORMATION CENTER. Information center.
88A. Passable publicity? : DECENT EXPOSURE. Indecent Exposure.
95A. Close examination of past and present English? : TENSE SCRUTINY. Intense scrutiny.
110A. Priest's fashion consultant? : VESTMENT ADVISER. Investment adviser.
All IN's are dropped from the start of the first word. Quite consistent.
I like when the new words change meanings drastically: STILL/CREASE/BOARD/FORMATION/TENSE/VESTMENT. They're all nouns, which tend to have shades of meanings, so easier to maneuver.
Not much change from INDECENT to DECENT though. Just a prefix drop. Adjective before and after.
Across:
1. Harder to see : DARKER
7. Heavenly bear : URSA
11. East Lansing sch. : MSU. The Spartans.
14. Vice __ : VERSA
19. "Seinfeld" role : ELAINE. KRAMER and NEWMAN have the same letter count.
20A. Groups on its covers included 'N Sync and Hanson : TEEN BEAT. Hanson is the "MMMBop" boy band.
22. Alternate strategy : PLAN B. Sitting next to by 25. "I Am the Walrus" was one : SIDE B. Tiny dupe.
26. Fair instrument : CALLIOPE. I only know the Muse meaning.
27. Many a stray : CUR. Not CAT.
28. Land of the banshee : EIRE
29. Songwriter Sands : EVIE
36. Energy pricing unit : BARREL
39. Submerged ridge : SHOAL
40. "Friendly Skies" co. : UAL
41. Quicken product : E-LOAN. So now E-loan has become a common word rather than the company E-Loan?
48. Put (on) hastily : SLAP
49. Metallic hybrids : ALLOYS
50. Stand __ : PAT. Not OUT/INS.
51. Green shelter : ARBOR
53. Destroys totally : TORPEDOES. Great fill.
55. Hitting : AT BAT
57. Moist : DEWY
58. Canonized ones: Abbr. : STs
59. Sticky stuff : GOO
60. Cook with high heat : BROIL. Chinese kitchens don't have ovens. We steam everything, including our bread (Mantou).
62. Ominous ending : OR ELSE
68. Vote for : CHOOSE
71. Côtes du __: wine region : RHONE. Also 107. Normandy department : ORNE. Not OISE.
72. "Clickbait" was added to it in Sep. 2016 : OED. Nailed it.
73. Not letting things slide, briefly : TCB. Take Care of Business.
76. Influence : PULL
77. Some Jutland natives : DANES
79. Stood : STOMACHED
82. Excavate anew : RE-DIG
84. '70s-'80s Pakistani president : ZIA. Learned from doing crosswords.
85. NFL's Oilers, since 1999 : TITANS. Learning moment to me.
87. "__ Land": 2016 Stone/Gosling film : LA LA. Oh, hi, LaLaLinda! She still reads our blog and comments.
91. How prancing is done : GAILY
92. Emmy-winning scientist : NYE (Bill)
93. Wear : ERODE
94. Liquor from currants : CASSIS. I never had currants, You?
101. Ado : FUSS
102. Not do, maybe : OMIT
103. Canberra school : UNI (University)
104. Classic Cadillac : ELDORADO. My idea of "Classic" is the old beat-up green Jeep Chinese Army used to have. Very cool. All other cars are the same. Just cars.
108. Mini successors : NANOs
114. Cries from sties : OINKs
115. Sweet-talked : WHEEDLED
116. Like the pre-Easter season : LENTEN
117. Candidate's handout : FLYER
118. Canon offering, briefly : SLR
119. Bros, say : SIB. My brother is chasing his Go 4d rank.
120. Driving force : ENGINE
Down:
1. Genealogy abbr. : DESC. Hi there, PK! Great to see you back.
2. Utah ski resort : ALTA
3. Complain : RAIL
4. Game that sells consoles, say : KILLER APP. Another great fill.
5. Pep up : ENLIVEN
6. Shrink back : RECOIL
7. __ Reader : UTNE. Our local Barnes & Noble does carry this magazine.
8. Flag thrower : REF
9. Cinque e uno : SEI
10. "Wait, there's more ... " : AND
11. Diner host's stack : MENUs
12. "__ bleu!" : SACRE. Bleu to replace "Dieu". "Mon Dieu".
13. Colorado native : UTE
14. Bush and Gore: Abbr. : VPs. Bush Sr.
15. Architect Saarinen : ELIEL. Eero's father. We also have 32. St. Louis bridge architect : EADS
16. Circle lines : RADII
17. Dik Browne dog : SNERT. "Hägar the Horrible".
18. Monk's home : ABBEY
21. Immobilize at sea, in a way : BECALM. I suppose it's a common word for sailors, Spitzboov/D-Otto.
24. Expose in verse? : OPE
30. Bedlam : CHAOS
31. One of the Gilmore girls : RORY. Not etymological related to ROARS (Also 38. Comedy club reactions)
33. Marketing target : QUOTA
34. Short-lived Egypt-Syr. alliance : UAR. Also 109. Abbr. on old Eurasian maps : SSR
35. Goya's "Duchess of __" : ALBA
36. Outplays : BESTS
37. Give in shares : ALLOT
39. One and only : SOLE
42. Flower : BLOOM
43. Some kind of nerve : OPTIC
44. Statistician's aid : TABLE
45. Information for a waiter : ORDER. The clue dupes the original word "Information" in 64A. Hard to detect this in a Sunday grid.
46. Biblical brother : ABEL
47. Garage services : TOWS
49. Couldn't get enough of : ADORED
52. White alternative : RYE. Bread.
54. They may clash in debates : EGOS. So true!
55. Supreme : A ONE
56. Carved poles : TOTEMS
60. IMDb.com entries : BIOs. IMDb is a great cluing source for constructors, full of great trivia.
61. Director Howard : RON
63. Shameful fictional symbol : RED A
64. __ acid : FOLIC. Not AMINO.
65. Golf great, to his "army" : ARNIE
66. What an unproductive worker might get : THE AX
67. Herman's Hermits frontman Peter : NOONE. Stranger to me. Same with 99. Oscar-winning actress Mercedes __ : RUEHL. I still have not fully figured out why Rich sometimes uses ___ in name clues. Here 67D has no ___, but 99D does. But person with ___ tends to be unknown to me.
68. Hosp. administration : CPR
69. Tinged : HUED
70. Quaint store adjective : OLDE. What I feel about the clue for 73. Massenet opera : THAIS
74. Symphonic strings : CELLI
75. Occasions for cake, briefly : B DAYS. Not in my childhood. Always noodles & two eggs.
78. Nahuatl speaker : AZTEC
79. Detailed analysis : STUDY
80. Container weight : TARE
81. Senior's memento : CLASS RING
83. Hereditary code carrier : GENE
85. Spelling on TV : TORI. Tori Spelling seems to have a very chaotic life.
86. Has the stage : IS ON
89. Finger Lakes locale: Abbr. : NYS (New York State)
90. Dress size : PETITE
91. Appliance with a pilot : GAS OVEN
94. Get snuggly : CUDDLE
95. Beaucoup, with "a" : TON OF
96. User's service : EMAIL. So disappointed with Outlook/Hotmail's last update. One day I'll move to Gmail completely.
97. Fool : NINNY
98. Fuel : STOKE
100. Indy 500 family name : UNSER
101. St. with a panhandle : FLA
104. LAX postings : ETDs
105. Piedmont wine region : ASTI
106. "Paula's Home Cooking" host : DEEN. I bet you all want to try our own "Steve's Home Cooking". His Facebook pictures are often mouthwatering. He even makes Sashimi himself.
110. Bug and Golf : VWs
111. ER VIPs : MDs.
112. Yalie : ELI
113. Lincoln's place: Abbr. : NEB
23A. Knowing one makes the best moonshine? : STILL CONFIDENCE. Instill confidence.
30A. Pressing concern? : CREASE QUALITY. Increase quality. "Improve quality" sounds more idiomatic.
42A. Vessel for the corporate lake outing? : BOARD MOTORBOAT. Inboard motorboat is new to me.
64A. Where geese learn the ABCs of Vs? : FORMATION CENTER. Information center.
88A. Passable publicity? : DECENT EXPOSURE. Indecent Exposure.
95A. Close examination of past and present English? : TENSE SCRUTINY. Intense scrutiny.
110A. Priest's fashion consultant? : VESTMENT ADVISER. Investment adviser.
All IN's are dropped from the start of the first word. Quite consistent.
I like when the new words change meanings drastically: STILL/CREASE/BOARD/FORMATION/TENSE/VESTMENT. They're all nouns, which tend to have shades of meanings, so easier to maneuver.
Not much change from INDECENT to DECENT though. Just a prefix drop. Adjective before and after.
Across:
1. Harder to see : DARKER
7. Heavenly bear : URSA
11. East Lansing sch. : MSU. The Spartans.
14. Vice __ : VERSA
19. "Seinfeld" role : ELAINE. KRAMER and NEWMAN have the same letter count.
20A. Groups on its covers included 'N Sync and Hanson : TEEN BEAT. Hanson is the "MMMBop" boy band.
22. Alternate strategy : PLAN B. Sitting next to by 25. "I Am the Walrus" was one : SIDE B. Tiny dupe.
26. Fair instrument : CALLIOPE. I only know the Muse meaning.
27. Many a stray : CUR. Not CAT.
28. Land of the banshee : EIRE
29. Songwriter Sands : EVIE
36. Energy pricing unit : BARREL
39. Submerged ridge : SHOAL
40. "Friendly Skies" co. : UAL
41. Quicken product : E-LOAN. So now E-loan has become a common word rather than the company E-Loan?
48. Put (on) hastily : SLAP
49. Metallic hybrids : ALLOYS
50. Stand __ : PAT. Not OUT/INS.
51. Green shelter : ARBOR
53. Destroys totally : TORPEDOES. Great fill.
55. Hitting : AT BAT
57. Moist : DEWY
58. Canonized ones: Abbr. : STs
59. Sticky stuff : GOO
60. Cook with high heat : BROIL. Chinese kitchens don't have ovens. We steam everything, including our bread (Mantou).
62. Ominous ending : OR ELSE
68. Vote for : CHOOSE
71. Côtes du __: wine region : RHONE. Also 107. Normandy department : ORNE. Not OISE.
72. "Clickbait" was added to it in Sep. 2016 : OED. Nailed it.
73. Not letting things slide, briefly : TCB. Take Care of Business.
76. Influence : PULL
77. Some Jutland natives : DANES
79. Stood : STOMACHED
82. Excavate anew : RE-DIG
84. '70s-'80s Pakistani president : ZIA. Learned from doing crosswords.
85. NFL's Oilers, since 1999 : TITANS. Learning moment to me.
87. "__ Land": 2016 Stone/Gosling film : LA LA. Oh, hi, LaLaLinda! She still reads our blog and comments.
91. How prancing is done : GAILY
92. Emmy-winning scientist : NYE (Bill)
93. Wear : ERODE
94. Liquor from currants : CASSIS. I never had currants, You?
101. Ado : FUSS
102. Not do, maybe : OMIT
103. Canberra school : UNI (University)
104. Classic Cadillac : ELDORADO. My idea of "Classic" is the old beat-up green Jeep Chinese Army used to have. Very cool. All other cars are the same. Just cars.
108. Mini successors : NANOs
114. Cries from sties : OINKs
115. Sweet-talked : WHEEDLED
116. Like the pre-Easter season : LENTEN
117. Candidate's handout : FLYER
118. Canon offering, briefly : SLR
119. Bros, say : SIB. My brother is chasing his Go 4d rank.
120. Driving force : ENGINE
Down:
1. Genealogy abbr. : DESC. Hi there, PK! Great to see you back.
2. Utah ski resort : ALTA
3. Complain : RAIL
4. Game that sells consoles, say : KILLER APP. Another great fill.
5. Pep up : ENLIVEN
6. Shrink back : RECOIL
7. __ Reader : UTNE. Our local Barnes & Noble does carry this magazine.
8. Flag thrower : REF
9. Cinque e uno : SEI
10. "Wait, there's more ... " : AND
11. Diner host's stack : MENUs
12. "__ bleu!" : SACRE. Bleu to replace "Dieu". "Mon Dieu".
13. Colorado native : UTE
14. Bush and Gore: Abbr. : VPs. Bush Sr.
15. Architect Saarinen : ELIEL. Eero's father. We also have 32. St. Louis bridge architect : EADS
16. Circle lines : RADII
17. Dik Browne dog : SNERT. "Hägar the Horrible".
18. Monk's home : ABBEY
21. Immobilize at sea, in a way : BECALM. I suppose it's a common word for sailors, Spitzboov/D-Otto.
24. Expose in verse? : OPE
30. Bedlam : CHAOS
31. One of the Gilmore girls : RORY. Not etymological related to ROARS (Also 38. Comedy club reactions)
33. Marketing target : QUOTA
34. Short-lived Egypt-Syr. alliance : UAR. Also 109. Abbr. on old Eurasian maps : SSR
35. Goya's "Duchess of __" : ALBA
36. Outplays : BESTS
37. Give in shares : ALLOT
39. One and only : SOLE
42. Flower : BLOOM
43. Some kind of nerve : OPTIC
44. Statistician's aid : TABLE
45. Information for a waiter : ORDER. The clue dupes the original word "Information" in 64A. Hard to detect this in a Sunday grid.
46. Biblical brother : ABEL
47. Garage services : TOWS
49. Couldn't get enough of : ADORED
52. White alternative : RYE. Bread.
54. They may clash in debates : EGOS. So true!
55. Supreme : A ONE
56. Carved poles : TOTEMS
60. IMDb.com entries : BIOs. IMDb is a great cluing source for constructors, full of great trivia.
61. Director Howard : RON
63. Shameful fictional symbol : RED A
64. __ acid : FOLIC. Not AMINO.
65. Golf great, to his "army" : ARNIE
66. What an unproductive worker might get : THE AX
67. Herman's Hermits frontman Peter : NOONE. Stranger to me. Same with 99. Oscar-winning actress Mercedes __ : RUEHL. I still have not fully figured out why Rich sometimes uses ___ in name clues. Here 67D has no ___, but 99D does. But person with ___ tends to be unknown to me.
 |
| Peter Noone |
 |
| Mercedes Ruehl |
68. Hosp. administration : CPR
69. Tinged : HUED
70. Quaint store adjective : OLDE. What I feel about the clue for 73. Massenet opera : THAIS
74. Symphonic strings : CELLI
75. Occasions for cake, briefly : B DAYS. Not in my childhood. Always noodles & two eggs.
78. Nahuatl speaker : AZTEC
79. Detailed analysis : STUDY
80. Container weight : TARE
81. Senior's memento : CLASS RING
83. Hereditary code carrier : GENE
85. Spelling on TV : TORI. Tori Spelling seems to have a very chaotic life.
86. Has the stage : IS ON
89. Finger Lakes locale: Abbr. : NYS (New York State)
90. Dress size : PETITE
91. Appliance with a pilot : GAS OVEN
94. Get snuggly : CUDDLE
95. Beaucoup, with "a" : TON OF
96. User's service : EMAIL. So disappointed with Outlook/Hotmail's last update. One day I'll move to Gmail completely.
97. Fool : NINNY
98. Fuel : STOKE
100. Indy 500 family name : UNSER
101. St. with a panhandle : FLA
104. LAX postings : ETDs
105. Piedmont wine region : ASTI
106. "Paula's Home Cooking" host : DEEN. I bet you all want to try our own "Steve's Home Cooking". His Facebook pictures are often mouthwatering. He even makes Sashimi himself.
110. Bug and Golf : VWs
111. ER VIPs : MDs.
112. Yalie : ELI
113. Lincoln's place: Abbr. : NEB
Thanks for the kind comments and emails on our blog birthday. Each means a
lot to me. Nice to learn that BunnyM has been quietly with us for three
years. So glad you finally joined us after your birthday!
Happy 71st Birthday to our grid master and friend John Lampkin, who is now living in Florida. I was very lucky to get to know John & blog his puzzles at the start of my blogging/constructing venture. I just love this picture. Are you still in contact with Annette, Lemonade?
Happy 71st Birthday to our grid master and friend John Lampkin, who is now living in Florida. I was very lucky to get to know John & blog his puzzles at the start of my blogging/constructing venture. I just love this picture. Are you still in contact with Annette, Lemonade?
 |
| Lemonade and John |
35 comments:
DNF¡ Done in by the ESE sector. ¡CB + ¡HAI¡ + CAS¡IS. Also 2 misspellings in the SW FLiER + NINNi and a natick in the SSW unknown RUEHe + SeR(mon, thinking of an ecclesiastical canon).
I listened many times to a vinyl Caedmon recording I once had of Vachel Lindsay reciting his poem Kallyope Yell. I always expected I would eventually go deaf, and so tried to store up audio memories while I could. If I read the notes correctly, it's here, record 25, overlapping parts 1 & 2. Someone else here will have to confirm that. It's very different from my poem below. {A+}
I yearn to hear it once again, the circus CALLIOPE!
It oom-pah-pahed like the elephant that I was soon to see!
It gave wondrous sounds
Of the circus grounds
To the awe of a boy like me!
It had a wagon all its own, painted with curlicues!
The colors and the CALLIOPE sounds together seem to fuse.
The balloons and clowns
With painted frowns,
Oh, the circus was made of HUES!
The shiny brass pipes of the CALLIOPE rose into the air!
Like the stately organ in the church, but this was at a fair!
The smell of the cotton candy,
The wispy licks taste dandy,
At the circus I walked on air!
The CALLIOPE with the wah-wah sound you feel through your bones,
It seemed not miles but a universe away from school and home!
The ladies on horses, standing at ease;
The acrobats up on the high trapeze
By the top of the big tent's dome!
The CALLIOPE is the memory that sounds down through the years.
The innocent times of a carefree lad can bring me near to tears.
That ompah-wah-wah stream
Is now just a dream,
That an old man can still hold dear.
Greetings!
Thanks to Matt and CC!
Congrats on your anniversary, CC!
Easy theme!
Had to perp, etc., for TEEN BEAT, SIDE B, TITANS, EADS, ELIEL and NOONE.
It's raining again!
Happy birthday, John!
Have a great day!
PS. Got stuck in lower left corner but muddled through. NYT took a lot longer!
Good morning all. Thank you Matt and thank you CC.
Made a mess of this one.
Still blue. Miss my boy. His presence fills our home.
Thank you Tawnya, Bunny, Irish Miss, Yellowrocks, Husker Gary, Misty, Tx Ms, Lucina, Jayce, CanadianEh, Jinx and Anonymous T for your kind words and condolences after CC mentioned it last Sunday.
I posted a couple of pics of him on my nonblog blog.
Good morning!
I found this one to be tough...too tough, as it turned out. That "Fair instrument" would have been easier for me to suss if it'd been clued as a "Circus instrument." ARBOR began life as a BOWER. At the end, I was left looking at _HAIS crossing _CB. Had no idea, and guessed wrong. Thanx for 'splainin', C.C.
TTP, good to see you back. I'm sorry for the loss of your "Boy."
C.C., "becalm" is a nautical term from the wind-powered sailing ship days. If the wind stopped blowing, those ships were dead in the water. In olden times, areas near the equator with no prevailing winds were known as the Doldrums; sailing ships could be becalmed for days there.
I caught this IN-theme with CONFIDENCE in the beginning but one thing I won't 'let side' is the TCB abbreviation. My only mistake was that unheard of abbr. crossing the THE unknown opera THAIS CHAIS,SHAIS,RHAIS,WHAIS,GHAIS- none of the first letter of these made _CB look like anything I knew. OED was an easy guess but not TCB. Adding to that I wasn't sure if the correct spelling for 91A was GAYLY, GAILY, or GAELY. I'll leave 'prancing' to one of Rudolph's buddies.
Other unknowns were EVIE Sands, ELIEL(everybody knows EERO), RORY (or the Gilmore Girls), and Mercedes RUEHL.
Peter NOONE ,aka I'm 'enery th eighth' I am, did an infomercial for classic songs a few years back. Any Mrs. Browns here? "You have a lovely daughter."
PLAN-B, SIDE-B, B-DAYS, RED-A all in one puzzle. At least they didn't start with 'A'.
FLA, NEB, NYS- got the states for Lemonade & Husker Gary.
I can hear a CALLIOPE playing on a Mississippi riverboat when visiting down in the Quarter but there's also a street by that name here and the locals pronounce it Cal-E-Ope. The instruments are extremely loud and are really steamship whistles that play different notes.
ELDORADO- that and the Oldsmobile TORONADO were classic pimpmobiles. Both were front-wheel drive cars.
Musings
-CAS_IS/THAI_? Gary 1 - Natick 0! What a treat and all theme answers were fun.
-UAL has the most beautiful ad music ever! (1:00)
-Sign of the times - E-LOANS are encroaching on brick and mortar bank loans
-TORPEDOS – We watched a documentary about the Lusitania last night
-Bob Sheppard’s iconic/stylized announcement when Derek Jeter was coming to be AT BAT was so good that Jeter had it recorded after Sheppard retired in 2008 and played it every time he came to bat in Yankee stadium until Jeter retired years later
-My administrator friend STOMACHED a horrible teacher who had lots of PULL
-In Charlie Wilson’s War Julia Roberts played Joanne Herring who was ZIA’S closest American advisor
-A different type of ENGINE
-A REF’s flag in last week’s KC game changed the ending
-Interesting QUOTA question
-Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne’s paramour, got a RED A as well
-A detailed STUDY can confuse an issue with facts
-My CLASS RING had an ONYX stone and spent much time wrapped in yarn
-If the pilot light on my GAS fireplace is lit, will it start in a power outage?
Good morning all!
This was harder than most Sundays for me, especially the SE corner. Lot of back and forth, perps and WAG's. Great theme and some learning moments, so thank you Matt.
Thanks CC for your great write up and kind comments to me :)
Happy Birthday to John (love the pic with Lemonade!)
My youngest daughter has a tattoo 'TCB' with a lightening bolt as a tribute to Elvis. She's 25 and was born an Elvis fan, loving his music before she could talk and has collected a ton of memorabilia. She finally made the trip to Graceland a couple of years ago.
Not sure how many go back at this point to read the previous days comments so I'll address them here :)
@Lucina- I also use the newspaper version, done in pencil and attached to my clipboard. And always with my coffee
@CrossEyedDave- my comments on political posts weren't directed at you but actually at some Anon postings from Friday and Saturday and I was agreeing with UncleFred. I should have made that clear. I thought your text to your daughters was well said.
Had to lol @ LALA Land being in the puzzle today after reading Big Easy's comment yesterday. I certainly don't reside there and the sky over my head is intact ;)
(The whole thing has reinforced my belief that I should only discuss politics with my DH, Mother and children :) I will remember that on here as well)
Speaking of the film LaLa Land- I saw it recently and while I enjoyed it, I'm not sure it deserved to win seven Golden Globes. I thought "Hidden Figures" and "Fences" were better. Will be interesting to see what happens at the Oscars.
TTP- my heart still goes out to you and your dear boy
Happy Sunday all- hope everyone has a wonderful day!
🐇
Hello Puzzlers -
Technical DNF today. I had no idea about TCB outside of the frozen yogurt usage.
Morning, C.C., I'll offer a different spin on the Calliope. In this meaning, it's a kind of pipe organ that uses steam instead of air as the medium. The pipes and everything else have to be built to withstand the heat, pressure, and moisture of steam. The steam pressure is usually greater than the corresponding air pressure of an organ, and the instrument is thus quite loud. It is usually played with a keyboard, but there were also novelty versions that had self-playing mechanisms along the lines of player pianos. Unlike pipe organs, there isn't much room for tonal variation; steam calliopes all tend to sound alike.
I liked this puzzle. Guessing the theme answers made it more doable. Two bad cells. I missed the plural CELLI with O instead of I. One cello can be called strings, too, I think. I had the second S in CASSIS, but then I erased it as CASSOS seemed odd. Now that I see CASSIS completed, I realize I have heard of it. THAIS also is vaguely familiar, too vague to come up with it in time to keep the S. Wiki says, "Thaïs is one of Massenet's most performed operas, but it is not part of the standard operatic repertoire." My music teacher ex had all the operas. I know I have listened to it.
I have had currant jam. My mom all kinds of jam and jelly.
TCB is quite familiar.
Nice picture John and Lemonade. Happy birthday, John. I hope we get one of your creations, soon. Birthday cake is a CSO to CE Dave.
We haven't seen Hondo lately.
Good day to all!
I caught on to the theme early, which was some help, but complete unknowns such as EVIE Sands and Mercedes RUEHL slowed things down a bit. But it was the crossing of Massenet opera THAIS and TCB that did me in. Never heard of either, so a google search of Massenet operas was the only way I was able to finish. Is TCB from some song or movie or something?
Thanks for the thorough expo C.C. Congratulations on the anniversary of your wonderful blog!
Enjoy the day!
Hi Everyone:
I caught the theme immediately as the title was quite literal but the solve was still quite challenging and very satisfying, to boot. I had tornadoes/torpedoes, beats/bests, and class book/class ring. The plan b/side b proximity was a tad iffy but that's a tiny nit. My favorite theme fill was Vestment Adviser.
Well done, Matt, many thanks, and thank you, CC, for your insightful and informative summary. While I offered congrats on the blog anniversary yesterday, I neglected to thank CC for creating and sustaining this wonderful community. I truly appreciate the dedication, time and efforts of CC, Scott, MelissaB, Ron, Gary, Steve, Jason, and Splynter. Thank you one and all.
TTP, you were missed and thought of.
HG, my gas fireplace worked during an ice-storm related power outage, which was a blessing, heat-wise.
Happy Birthday, John Lampkin, hope it is fun-filled! 🎂🎉🍾🎈
Have a great day.
Congrats to Matt, and thank you C.C. (and Fermat, Bunny, Yellow and Irish) for the birthday wishes and pic re-run. It's long overdue for a visit to Lemonade who unfortunately lives on the other side of the state. He is not only a great blogger but a great guy besides.
And congrats C.C. for another notch in the blogging belt. That's an amazing long time for a blog to thrive. May it live forever!
Hmm - BECALM is almost never seen in this form. When you're stuck in a sailboat with no wind, you're BECALMED, but it's hard to make a sentence with BECALM. The lack of wind could BECALM a boat, I suppose. Seldom used. And, what's wrong with Bangkok natives for THAIS? But, on balance a fun puzzle especially FORMATION CENTER and TENSE SCRUTINY!
Didn't make it to the blog yesterday--congratulations on the anniversary, C.C. and a million thanks for everything.
Happy Birthday, John. And sorry for your loss, TTP.
Bit of a Sunday toughie, but with a very enjoyable theme--many thanks, Matt. And of course, you too, C.C. for giving us your Sunday write-up. I actually got most of the puzzle and had to cheat only on a few items. There were some unknowns including a lot of names. I seem to be slipping and slipping on pop culture even though I subscribe to People magazine and try to do my best to keep up.
I finally had a chance to watch the first episode of "Victoria" last night, and found it intriguing and entertaining. I wonder how close to historical truth it might be? Wish I had paid closer attention to write-ups when it first came on the air--that would have given me a better idea.
Have a good Sunday everybody (including those of us with heavy rains), and a good week ahead.
Hello everyone.
Just finished it on-line after doing our paper's NYT Sunday puzzle. Mostly straightforward; liked the theme, although I sussed it after the first entry.
BECALM - What D-Otto said. In the Western Atlantic where we mostly operated, the sea might be glassy calm for only a few hours over a fortnight.
9d - SEI - Is the imperative form of the German Sein (to be). Sei artig. Be good.
77a - Some Jutland natives - DANES - Sort of an indirect SO à moi. Geographically the peninsula includes Schleswig-Holstein, the source of my GENES.
106d - DEEN - We have dined at her restaurant in Savannah, "The Lady and Sons". Good food.
Happy Birthday to John Lampkin.
Alan is better psychologically than he has been in quite a while. We have run down all his physical complaints and resolved those we could. We recently found that many of the complaints are the result of premature aging. (I believe my body is "younger" than his.) His birth defects led to the formation of weak body systems which age more rapidly than systems that were sound at birth.
My sibs and I call the reality of our aging bodies the "new normal." These past two weeks I have been able to convince Alan that he is not sick, that this is just his new normal. He is past 50 and like all of us he is slowing down. This attitude relieved a good bit of our anxiety. The fact that he almost died in May 2015 had left both of us hyper-wary. We are now convinced that his new normal is okay. Today my blood pressure reading was down 15 points, almost normal.
However, the other shoe always drops. My older son had a bad bicycle accident this afternoon. He broke his hip and needs a pin or a plate. Surgery tomorrow. Still on the merry-go-round.
I am pleased that most of you call me YR or Yellowrocks.
Yellowrocks (hugs) from Kathy
Generally smooth solve, but I got stuck around the square of 36-39 down and 36-53A, also didn't get KILLER APP - so DNF for me today!
@BunnyM - Golden Globes are unusual compared to the Oscars as they divide Musical/Comedy movies from Drama movies. So "La LA Land" wasn't competing against "Fences" and "Hidden Figures" - in the Drama category "Moonlight" won. I'm glad they divide it - since Musical/ Comedy films hardly ever win the Oscars (though there are exceptions like "Chicago") - it's nice for them to get some recognition.
Thanks for the write-up CC and for a creative puzzle Matt!
YR, I was pleased to hear some hopeful news about Alan but I'm sure sorry to hear about your older son. Best wishes for both of you.
I enjoyed this puzzle. Easy to tell from the title that the letters IN would be taken out, which made getting the theme answers easier. Lots of fun. I had red letters turned on when I started, left over from yesterday, so the moment I typed in the S for Vice SQUAD it showed red so I immediately knew that was wrong. I turned red letters off for the rest of the solve. My first attempt for the Massenet opera was MANON but when that didn't work out I figured it had to be THAIS. It's a little known opera, but an excerpt from it, called Meditation is quite well-known. As far as I'm concerned, if the whole opera is as boring as the Meditation, I'm glad I have never been subjected to it.
Yellowrocks, I am glad you and Alan have discovered the underlying source of his problems and are dealing with them with understanding on both your parts. You must both feel quite relieved.
Happy birthday, John Lampkin, and best wishes to you all.
A friend of ours has a wonderful dog, a Weimaraner, of whom LW and I have grown quite fond. He has a strong and distinctive personality, and man oh man does he know how to preen and look all kingly when people come up and say, "Oh what a beautiful dog." LW and I will grieve almost as much as his owner will when it is his time to go.
Looking forward to the second episode of Victoria tonight.
Bill G, is Barbara feeling noticeably better yet?
Big Easy, for years I pronounced calliope as cally-ope and Penelope as Peena-lope, both of which rhyme with antelope. It was also years before I learned Antigone was not pronounced ante-gonn. Heck, for years I thought misled was "my-zuld." I think all my mispronunciations were because mostly I read by myself and didn't have anybody to read aloud to me. I still stick with Bode (rhymes with node, lode, and, uh, bode) plots as my frequency response curves.
I hope you have a good spell coming, YR. You deserve it.
Hand up for missing CELLo and had no idea about the cross CASSIS. My other bad cell was LENTEN crossed with ORNE, a total unknown. I had LENTEl. Also got nine erasures from perps, and had learning opportunities for 5 more total unknowns. Seems like we had TCB a few weeks ago. I suspect that most of us just need to remember this as crossword-only lingo.
HG - If your fireplace has one of them thar new-fangled remote controls, or has to have an air circulation fan, or is connected to a thermostat you may have problems. Otherwise you should be OK. With a pilot light you don't have to worry about powering an igniter.
DO - We were taught that the areas where the doldrums occur were also called the horse latitudes. When they were becalmed in those areas they would supposedly throw the horses overboard to lighten the ship. Grisly.
Wow! This is an unusual rain storm for coastal southern California. Steady and strong since about 5am. As I think I've written before, I don't expect it to be a problem for us. Our house is at one of the higher elevations in the neighborhood and not subject to flooding or mudslides. I'm glad we had the foresight to have a roof 'tune-up' a couple of months back. It seemed expensive at the time but the peace of mind makes it seem like money well spent now.
Yes, happy birthday wishes to John L. from me also!
Jayce, the feeling-better stage will be coming gradually from what I understand. So not really yet. Thanks for asking. And, I used to mispronounce Yosemite Sam as Yo-se-might Sam during my comic-book-reading stage of life. I chuckled when I heard Jordan say it the same way a couple of years back...
YR: what else would we call you? BTW, Erato asks me to pass this on to you:
There once was a lady named KATHY
Who had an admirable chassis!
When on the dance floor
She hugs a bit more --
It's her YELLOWROCKS that keep her so classy!
YR, I'm sending best wishes your way for your older son. Glad to hear the positive news about Alan. You need to make sure you take care of yourself, too.
I hope all Cornerites in SoCal are safe and dry. The ground is already so saturated that there's nowhere for the water to go. I just got a Flash Flood warning for our area on my cell phone. Fermat, it looks like your area really got slammed by rain today. Hope you're safe.
Really disliked this entry. Too many iffy defs. Not a pleasant pass time on a rainy afternoon. Wasted some quality nap time struggling with this confusion
DNF thanks to TCB/Thais. Not only did I not know Thais, I hadn't heard of Massenet until today. And Take(ing) Care of Business to me sez Bachman Turner Overdrive not Elvis or Seinfeld. I know: philistine!
I'll carp at 41A. Quicken is an Intuit product not a company. The related company that offers E-Loans is called Quicken Loans. An E-Loan could be a Quicken Loans product or perhaps a Quicken feature but "Quicken Product" doesn't feel right - to me anyway.
OKL, thank you for the sweet poem. Bill G, Jayce and MJ thank you for your concern.
Yellowrocks
Though the day is almost done I had to comment on this puzzle. For the most part it was fun and divining the theme really helped with the long entries. WEES. Like most of you TCB/THAIS eluded me as did RUEHLA. In my mind I heard the name but wanted to spell it RUELA. Not good. Finally, I came to the Blog where C.C. enlightened me.
Most of the afternoon I was at a group gathering for a birthday celebration and only finished the puzzle when returning home. I just noticed an unfinished section in the SW! Oh, well.
Thank you, Matt and C.C.
Owen:
What a lovely poem for Yellowrocks! She does deserve some TLC.
Happy birthday, John Lampkin! I also hope you will soon grace us with one of your works.
I hope your day has been delightful, everyone!
Hi Y'all! Forgot until an hour ago that I hadn't done today's puzzle. Unusual. Hard one for me. WEES.
Belated thanks and congratulations to C.C. on such an outstanding and popular blog!
Happy birthday, John Lampkin.
IMHO. One man's Taking Care of Business is another man's Obsessive Compulsive Behavior. But OHAIS had to be wrong.
I just noticed that I began reading the blog about 2:30. With the gettable themes the xw as a whole went smoothly.
Owen, A+ is never too high for you. B&B closing shop must be sad for you and many more. I was very young when I saw the circus ; the trapeze was my favorite.
YR, I'm glad the BP came down.
Falling asleep, good night all
WC
Really? Sunday lurk ask, no one link'd BTO's TCB?
I'm finally starting to beat the weather and came to play to see that all (but the BTO) is done. HB John! I love your puzzles.
++ to YR [how's Eldest today?] & Bill G. OKL - A++ and AAA+ for YR's ODE.
Feelin' small -t
OKL- This is an crappy rendition but you can't hear it anyway - that's why I picked one /w lyrics embedded. You're a fun mind and kind soul. -t
Tony: Thanks, man! That poem spoke to me probably better than you know on a couple levels!
FIW. Loved the theme. The Naticks, not so much.
Agree with Yellowrocks that CELLO could also be "strings" because it has multiple strings.
Never heard of TCB. I tried every possible _CB and gave up and made a WAG it was CCB.
Never heard of the crosses THAIS nor CASSIS. Triple Natick.
I did remember Peter NOONE after a couple of letters. I actually saw him perform here with Herman's Hermits in 2013.
Stuck on Minis thinking of dress lengths before getting NANOS. Stuck on DIMMER before DARKER. Never heard of ALTA so that was almost a Natick for me.
CALLIOPE hazily appeared from memory as I got some crosses.
Interesting learning moment, CC, that Chinese steam where we would use an oven. Much healthier and more flavorful to steam vegetables than to boil them.
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