Theme: None
Words: 72 (missing J,Q,X,Z)
Blocks: 28
Another
Saturday struggle from Pawel, but unlike his construction from Jan of
this year, I did not succeed without a fair amount of cheating - but
then again, I am also in the middle of a lot of projects, so my mind was
not entirely focused on the puzzle. One too many proper names, normal
for the author, as well. Today's grid, somewhat like a snake, is
another example of how to make it difficult to work one area with no
hope of getting in to another - for me, I could not get anything going
in the NW. Triple 9- and 10-letter corners, the longest answers in the
grid;
15. Land across the Baltic from Sweden : LITHUANIA - OK, cheated - I looked at a map of Europe
14. Federal subsidy : GRANT-IN-AID - never heard the term before
53. Crash and burn : HIT BOTTOM
26. Nevada's Area 51, notably : OPEN SECRET
The
Files~!
Files~!
ACROSS:
1. Picture with a surprise ending? : PHOTO BOMB
10. Cheaply, with "for" : A SONG
16. Organ __ : DONOR
10. Cheaply, with "for" : A SONG
16. Organ __ : DONOR
17. Burden to bear : ALBATROSS - Iron Maiden turned a classic poem into a 13minute song;
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
18. Lead-in for here or nowhere : OUTTA - outta here, outta nowhere
19. Much data: Abbr. : NOs - technically, it's just "two" numbers; 1, and 0
20. River of Tuscany : ARNO
21. Oliver Twist, for one : ORPHAN
22. Architectural molding : OGEE - I have not seen this in a Saturday puzzle for a while
23. Cut twice, perhaps : TRISECT - I was thinking someone measured wrong in the first place....
24. Clear of snow : PLOWED - my "private road" does not get plowed
27. The King's middle name : ARON - Elvis, thank you, thank you very much
28. McBride of "Draft Day" : CHI
29. Metz meal : REPAS - too much Frawnche for me today
30. __ vote : SWING
31. Wi-Fi relative : LAN
32. Eisner's successor at Disney : IGER - filled via perps
33. Org. formed in Manila in 1954 : SEATO - good WAG
34. Pulitzer poet Van Duyn : MONA - filled via perps
35. With 22-Down, immortal 20th-century racer : MAN circumreferential to; 22. See 35-Across : O' WAR - dah~! I was looking for someONE, like Richard Petty, not a horse....
36. British county : SHIRE - generic, not specific
37. Spherical bacteria : COCCI - perps got me --CCI
38. Racing Unsers : ALs
39. Make sound : MEND
40. Quenched : SLAKED
41. Downwind current : LEE TIDE
43. Improvisational style : SCAT
44. Aspects : FACETS
45. Sainted pope called "the Great" : LEO I - LEO (Roman numeral), JOHN or PIUS~? Had to wait
46. Masterpiece : GEM
49. Heron relative : EGRET
50. Product announced but never produced or canceled : VAPORWARE - I finally caved in to peer pressure and bought a vaporizer, so I can hang with the "cool" kids at UPS - they're all half my age anyway, so I find it all amusing. I do however, think there's a chance I might quit smoking with this thing - I like the ash-less,no-more-stank-in-the-car 'just like smoking candy' aspects of the thing....
52. Coeur d'__ : ALENE
54. Treat again, as leather : RE-TAN - my preferred kind of "tan"
55. Relax : STAY LOOSE
DOWN:
1. Work on one's vacation, say : PLAN - oh, like booking a room and a flight - I am on "vacation" from UPS, but for me, it meant putting in 40+ hours at both restaurants to get them back into shape - one from the fireproofing mess, the other for grand re-opening in two weeks
2. Hawaii's __ Bay : HILO - good WAG
3. Places with indoor windows, briefly : OTBs - ah. Filled via perps; clever, though
4. Rap article : THA'
5. Storm problems : OUTAGES - SURGES was too short
6. Kept out : BARRED - dah~! Not baNNed
7. Two __: fast-break advantage : ON-ONE - love them in hockey; I finally saw a three-on-three OT game - and I like the fact that a 2-on-1 or breakaway is always imminent
8. Protein-rich paste : MISO - not TOFU
9. Humanities degs. : BAs
1. Work on one's vacation, say : PLAN - oh, like booking a room and a flight - I am on "vacation" from UPS, but for me, it meant putting in 40+ hours at both restaurants to get them back into shape - one from the fireproofing mess, the other for grand re-opening in two weeks
2. Hawaii's __ Bay : HILO - good WAG
3. Places with indoor windows, briefly : OTBs - ah. Filled via perps; clever, though
4. Rap article : THA'
5. Storm problems : OUTAGES - SURGES was too short
6. Kept out : BARRED - dah~! Not baNNed
7. Two __: fast-break advantage : ON-ONE - love them in hockey; I finally saw a three-on-three OT game - and I like the fact that a 2-on-1 or breakaway is always imminent
8. Protein-rich paste : MISO - not TOFU
9. Humanities degs. : BAs
10. Like most grandparents : ADORING
11. Stock options? : SOUPS
12. Facing a deadline : ON THE CLOCK
13. "In your dreams!" : NOT A CHANCE
21. College town about 100 miles NE of Portland : ORONO - seen this in enough crosswords
23. Hackneyed : TRITE
24. 1993 William Diehl thriller on which a 1996 film was based : PRIMAL FEAR
25. Formidable court figure : LEGAL EAGLE - also a movie, but it was "eagleS"
27. Agatha or Edgar : AWARD - nailed it, but then again, I had A-A--
30. The Pont Neuf spans it : SEINE - Frawnche
33. Molts : SHEDS
34. Defense that may be all wet : MOAT - my dream home has a moat
36. Gaga : SMITTEN
37. "Does she ... or doesn't she?" brand : CLAIROL
40. Part of a fictional dog name inspired by Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" : SCOOBY
42. R&B singer __ Marie : TEENA
43. Dividing walls : SEPTA - biology
45. Café supply : LAIT - Frawnche, again
46. León relative : GATO - Frawnche, encore
47. Piccadilly Circus statue : EROS
48. Hand raiser's attention-getter : ME~! ME~!
50. Beta rival : VHS
51. Org. that complements the IMF : WTO - oh. The International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization - I was stuck on "Impossible Mission Force....
Splynter
51 comments:
FIRbTD again! 41a I had LEEsIDE, and no idea what 42d was, except that sEENA didn't look right. The NW was the area that stayed blank for too long, for me. At one point, I had AmBiTiOnS -- every other letter!
{B+, C, B, C+.}
A pickpocket and singer from LITHUANIA
Would opened, "Let me entertain ya!"
He'd start in A SONG,
Invite sing-a-long,
Then SCAT -- with spoils of kleptomania!
A lonely coccus was situated at the foci
Of the camera of a MAN known as Hawkeye!
The resultant PHOTOBOMB
Was sent to GemMate.com,
Where SMITTEN, now he's a family of COCCI!
The will-o-wisp floated along on the air
Made of swamp gas, he almost wasn't there!
Representing a PRIMAL FEAR
An AWARD he won this year --
He dressed up in his best VAPOR WARE!
~><~
Said ALBATROSS to his companion, EGRET
"That last dive was one I shall regret!
The fish, I caught 'im,
But my beak HIT BOTTOM!
Just look how the fractures TRISECT!"
Said EGRET to his friend, ALBATROSS
"I feel the pain of your loss!
But fishing on stilts
Would have BARRED those wild tilts,
And swamp-scum adds a nice MISO sauce!
Thanks Pawel Fludzinski and Splynter.
Very tough. Took forever to get going but it slowly started to come together. I thought I was going to get a TADA but I had to use a few red letter cheats in the end. Overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
BTW Splynter, LEON & GATO are SPANISH for lion and cat.
Good morning all. Thank you Pawel and thank you Splynter.
Excellent challenge. Best puzzle of the week. Took a few seconds under 66 minutes, but am stoked that I stayed with it.
I guess unlike Splynter and Robert, I started easily enough and knocked out the NW in a few minutes. One ON ONE and LITHUANIA got me started on the right track. Just had ALBATROSS yesterday or the day before with almost the same clue at another venue.
Most of the rest of the west and the diagonals from RETAN up to ASONG filled pretty quickly, but I did pause and ponder over MEND as clued, with "make sound." Repair, not aural.
Didn't know MONA and CHI on the east side, and at first had ecolI. That I was correct, but ecolI was proved wrong when I realized ON THE CLOCK. Entered SoAKED, so GRANT -N -ID became obvious.
The SE was the toughest for me. Figured it was going to be LEO something. Then SCAT let to SCOOBY and then remembered CLAIROL and VHS (duh) when I paid attention to rival. The triple stack 9s then filled. Good thing. Never would have got SEPTA.
Thought I was done, but needed to complete RE--S, O-E-SECRET, and OW-R back on the west side. Struggled with the perceived conflict in the tense of PLOWED and its clue,"Clear of snow." Then it made sense. That area is clear of snow. It has been PLOWED.
Was pretty confident it was IGER, but wanted to reject OPEN SECRET. That would leave me with OW-R MAN and then the penny dropped.
Good morning!
Aha, I was not Fludzinskied this morning. There were just enough solid footholds to permit some educated WAGs, and it all came together nicely. My only writeover was OUT OF rather than OUTTA. The six 9s and six 10s were all very nice. Thanks, Pawel. Splynter, thanks for the yeoman service. I enjoyed your "hit rock bottom" illustration.
Solved this in faster than normal Saturday time. One bad cell. I doubted the Y in PLAY and YOS. I should have done an alphabet run.
NOS. Much data is in the form of numbers, for example population, heights of mountains.
VAPORWARE was all perps. I looked it up and it is exactly what the clue says. It's a product, that's dreamed up and advertised, but is never actually made, and also never cancelled. It seems some companies do this to maintain brand loyalty. The customers wait for the new product, instead of switching brands. In the meantime the company comes up with a better idea.
It reminds me of many of our teacher training meetings on products or software the school never bought. What a waste of time! I know this is not exactly the same meaning, but just sayin'
Perped and wagged SCOOBY. How interesting! Makes sense, now.
Except for the SE this was an easy solve for Saturday. I had no idea about VAPORWARE and almost HITBOTTOM but had to STAYLOOSE and finally got it all. Thank you, Robert Emerson for pointing out that GATO and LEON are Spanish not French.
LITHUANIA came easily from teaching fourth grade geography and the NE flowed out quickly. It took a while to recall CLAIROL and I spelled SCOOBY and SCAT with a k instead of C. I've often seen EROS as clued.
This was a GEM which I enjoyed. Thank you, Pawel Fludzinski and Thank you, Splynter. You want a MOAT? I'm sure I don't know why.
Have a spectacular Saturday, everyone!
Musings
-ITO outbid the WTO and so I wound up with VAPOIARE? and will take one bad cell.
-Has our gov’t HIT BOTTOM when tax dollars fund a $171,000 GRANT-IN-AID to study “How Monkeys Gamble”
-We got the Louisiana Purchase FOR A SONG ($3/A) to help finance Napoleon’s meglomania
-A 34-year-old woman was the ORGAN DONOR for my then 60-year-old friend
-How we got the word for when a heavily favored athlete gets beaten
-In 1971 The BeeGees wondered How Can You MEND A Broken Heart?
-Anyone else remember this GEM of a logo?
-This grandparent doesn’t feel ELDERLY! Oh, wait a minute…
-My friend rode down the SEINE last year and I stupidly/rudely/pedantically corrected his pronunciation when he told me the story!
-NFL teams will be ON THE CLOCK in May
-My hand-raiser first WAVED his hand. Then I saw M _ ME and thought that can’t be a MEME but then I thought of all those eager gunners in class…
Good Morning:
I'm in the minority this morning so I will just follow Swampcat's wise advice from yesterday and invoke my good friend, Thumper.
Splynter, you're a trouper. Thank you.
Have a great day and stay warm!
HG - The gambling monkeys can't be worse than the grant to study shrimp on a treadmill. The country lost more than it could afford to lose when Senator Proxmire died.
Best part of the day was learning that Scooby Do got its name from ole blue eyes.
I got about a dozen fills, some of them correct, before I gave up. Congrats to those who wrestled this monster to victory. I enjoyed Splynter's write-up, and appreciate the skill required by Pawel in constructing the grid.
Today was a Red Letter Day and not in a good way because I HIT BOTTOM and heeded help. It was a challenging puzzle and I had some of the same problems that Splynter mentioned.
I had a problem with PHOTO BOMB. To me it's when someone jumps into the background of a picture being taken. I feel that a Picture with a surprise ending has a PLOT TWIST.
There were 6 or 7 choices for the country across the Baltic from Sweden. Just had to count the number of open letters to come up with LITHUANIA. It had the most letters.
The GATO got me. I figured LEON meant the city in France but it's spelled LYON not Leon.
With perps I had _____ROSS, so I tried to put in some kind of CROSS. Not even close.
I liked the six 10-letter fill ins because they were what I knew and they ultimately helped finish the puzzle.
Another cold day in PA. Yesterday we had a number of White-out snow squalls that resulted in a number accidents on I-80, I-99 and I-81 that involved more than 100 vehicles with at least one fatality. I was out in it, but luckily had just pulled into KOHL'S parking lot when it hit. Couldn't even see the store from 50 feet away.
It's National Soup day today and since the temperatures are not supposed to get above freezing, I think I'll make some. Good winter weather food. Enjoy your soup today.
I started strong in the NW cruised through the middle and crashed and burned in the SE where vaporware and septa cross was beyond me. On the other hand, Splynter's take on HITTING ROCK BOTTOM made the experience perfect.
Thanks Pawel and Splynter
51D: I too went with Mission Impossible.
TV Theme
Good morning everyone.
Excellent cw from Pawel and sterling intro from Splynter. Thank you both.
Was gonna skip today's puzzle but when I espied the author, I knew I should give it a go. Got it done with just a little help.
Agree with Splynter as to the compartmentation of the puzzle making success in one sector virtually untransferable to another.
Favorite clue/ fill was for MAN-O'WAR. I thought GATO was 'cat' in Spanish. Maybe Lucina could give us a short précis. Tia and tio wouldn't fit.
TRISECT - Cut twice; measure three times? :-)
COCCI - Remembered there was a "round" kind of bacteria. Saw the C's and thought of 'pneumococcal" vaccine.
Good day to all!
Other than the NW, I found this puzzle easier than most Saturdays. I, too, finally looked at a map of the Baltic Sea area to get LITHUANIA. Could only remember Finland, Latvia, and Estonia, and they didn't fit. That being done, I was able to complete the area with down clues. CHI McBride and MONA Van Duyn were 100% perpped. Nice puzzle, Pawel.
Thanks for your find, faithful Saturday expo, Splynter. Loved the "rock BOTTOM" quote with accompanying photo.
Enjoy the day!
Oops! Fine expo, Splynter.
In my comments I mentioned GATO as being cat in Spanish as did Robert Emerson in his, 5:27 A.M and 9:07 A.M. respectively. Leon is, of course, lion. I thought by now Splynter would have amended his post.
That lower right corner stumped me.
I had to sing "Strangers..." until I remembered Sinatra's signature tag line. It helped that a dear friend is a Scooby-Doo fan. For a laugh, listen to Sinatra's recording, then Eddie Fisher's, then Mel Torme's.
I must remark that all sources say that the statue in Picadilly Circus is of Anteros, not Eros as widely believed. Quite similar names and image, but very different natures.
At 75, I owe the fact that my brain still works to the Saturday LA Times Crossword. Mental push-ups. Gracias.
Thanks, Pawel, for a challenge this morning.... the NW also was the last to fill, but once DH got LITHUANIA, it was a fast fill.
Thanks, Splynter, for your write-up, as always.... and loved the Rock Bottom!
Hmm, my interpretation of todays theme was "not a clue?"
(Oh wait, that was yesterday...)
Come on, hand waver? Me me? Ooh Ooh comes to mind more readily...
Splynter, enjoyed your write up today,
all I can say is, thank you, thank you very much...
Wait a sec, stranger in the night dog, Scooby?
What's up with that???
It amazes me every time that Rich erroneously clues EROS as the statue at Picadilly Circus. It is obviously wrong. Many references to this faux pas are readily available online. Does he not know? Has any one with access to his ear ever told him? It's like when a friend or relative constantly mispronounces a word and you haven't the heart to correct them and embarrass them.
Well, well, well... yesterday I said I was looking forward to the Saturday puzzle because it HAD to be easier for me than Friday's was. Today my wish came true. This was a 22 minute fun run, although the first few of those minutes had me worried; I couldn't get a foothold at first. Favorite clue/answer pairs: make sound/mend (wanted something to make noise with for quite a while) and defense all wet/moat.
Back in the late 70s - early 80s vaporware had a slightly different meaning, referring to software that you had bought; unfortunately for you, when you needed to get some support from the company you found they no longer existed. Gone like vapor in a cool breeze.
From what Splynter said, I'd guess that he's too busy working to update his exposition just yet.
Thanks, Pavel--this is the first of your puzzles I've been able to finish in a decent amount of time, and the first ever without needing red letter help! And thanks, Splynter, for the write-up.
Hi all!
Thanks Pawel for the puzzling companion whilst I listened to Car Talk and Wait, Wait... I never could crack the NW (I had P____filM / MAS up there and never would come down from the A---cROSS [Hi Oc4!]). DNF.
Splynter - thanks for taking the time from your Vacation PLAN to find/post the answers and 'Rock BOTTOM' / 'UFO on Tape' pics. LOL. Keep VAPE-ing. I've been doing it 5 years - I get my nicotine-jolt w/o the tar. I don't do the candy flavours; I prefer tobacco's taste.
2 Googles opened up the NE - CHI [he was on the 3rd line of actors when Google'd!] and MONA. I had LOCCI which gave me Loairrel [sp?] instead of CLAIRROL - it seamed to work w/ SoAKED @40a and S---LOOSE.
shOvel @24a worked w/ my Fav OPEN SECRET. I was going w/ Secret base at first, so it wasn't a stretch to switch that FACET of thought. Same deal w/ ----grAnt @14d; just a little-switcharoo and TADA! [aside - a USAF buddy of mine got xfer'd to Groom Lake - he said they stand around a big hole and smoke while tossing butts down to fill up the hole. In the meantime they make up cover stories. :-o]
SCOOBY xing SCAT was cute. VAPOR WARE was 2nd in that corner [thanks VHS!] and another fun c/a. The W gave me 51d (WTO).
Didn't Steve share a PHOTO of him in UK aping EROS? Or maybe it was William? Who can Tell?
{B+,B-,B,B+}
CED - you beat me to Horshack; O, MAN, now I havTA ORPHAN that idea...
STAY LOOSE, -T
In my very loooong life I have NEVER seen, read or heard of the term "VAPORWARE"! How is one who has obviously led a sheltered life supposed to know these things??
Bobbi - VAPOR WARE may be industry specific jargon... Back in the day, Microsoft was famous for announcing stuff that never came to fruition just to keep you from buying UNIX or Apple's goodies. As far as the c/a, think of it as a domain you don't know like SEPTA was for me today. Does that help? Cheers, -T
I confidently went for doobie the dog, which became doobey based on stay loose. Had a hard time letting go.
Longbeachlee - LOL Doobie/STAY LOOSE.
CED - so, lemme TRY-SECT this NO(S) themer another way...
Does anyone want to see the ALBATROSS sketch again? What about The Penultimate REPAS GEM?
[Have I HIT BOTTOM? :-)]
Fridge-man is nigh. My water dispenser is trickster: Put in your cup and fill it 1/2 way and it shuts off. But, let your cup run'eth to 3/4, and the damn thing keeps flowing making a MOAT on your shoes. Let's see what the repair guy says it will take to MEND.
Cheers, -T
THANK you, Splynter, for letting me know I wasn't the only one who had to resort to cheats to complete Mr. Fludzinski's contribution. Lotsa clever (i.e., misdirecting) cluing going on and several proper names.
I didn't need a map for LITHUANIA, as it's the only Baltic state that fit the grid. And I was okay with ALBATROSS. But the other longish fills didn't yield easily to the piddling perp help.
And why are BAS "Humanities degs."? I had MAS because one is more likely to specialize at the grad level. An undergrad degree is just as likely to be in a liberal arts major or even in an open enrollment performance or fine arts major. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, huh?
I wouldn't fuss so much except that this little discrepancy saddled me inexorably with a wrong ending for what eventually turned out to be PHOTO BOMB.
But Thank You anyway to Mr. F. I give credit to anyone who can give us one of these creations. Xwd building ain't for sissies.
Solved with difficulty, but better clued than yesterday's mess.
How about a new rule: let's do the whole puzzle in stupid French, then everyone can throw it away and we can have real clues and answers again?
Northeast to Southwest was a breeze but I doubted "Chi" and "Mona". Especially since VanDuyn didn't even rate a Wiki page. I should have gotten vaporware as an engineer in the 80's and 90's; it was the bane of my existence and a frequent joke among software engineer and program managers. DUH! I got Eros even though I knew from my travels that it was a misnomer and isn't Elvis AAron Pressley spelled with a double a ? I didn't fill it in at first as the letter count was wrong. Still for a Saturday newbe the black squares exceeded the white and that is a victory. Orono and alene and ogee have become easy fills as I have made a list of all the vowel plentiful words and places. I imagine crossword creators with a wallchart listing all the places they can mine for extra vowels. Lithuania is pretty good but lacks the e's. Ogee is in there at least twice a month. Still mad that I didn't get vaporware...GRRRRRR :(
Learning moment #1
(from Anonymous @12:35)
Anteros?
Learning moment #2, how to spell Piccadilly...
Learning moment #3: (From Wiki)
"Piccadilly Circus connects to Piccadilly, a thoroughfare whose name first appeared in 1626 as Piccadilly Hall, named after a house belonging to one Robert Baker, a tailor famous for selling piccadills, or piccadillies, a term used for various kinds of collars."
LOL Anonymous T!
Your Albatross link sent me a YouTube excursion lasting 45 minutes,
where I watched Michelangelo's last supper & other things completely different.
I was about to get my revenge by posting "bloopers kept in movies because they were too good," when I came back to the Blog, & discovered I had not yet watched the penultimate repas gem yet. Ack! ya got me twice!
Dear Chuck, Barbara is a BIG Elvis fan. Perhaps because of that I came across the fact that his middle name is indeed Aron, maybe due to his parents' ignorance.
In reading Dave Barry, I came across the factoids that the Hawaiian language is heavy on vowels and short in consonants whereas words and names in Wales are the reverse and have an excess of consonants. If there's one thing Welsh place names aren't known for, it's having a lot of vowels.
From Bwlchgwyn to Ysbyty Ystwyth, Wales is dotted with towns and villages devoid of those little letters the English language relies upon to make words work.
I had a curious experience solving this puzzle. I got the northeast, the diagonal strip going down the middle, and the southwest--but not the northwest or the southeast. A strange result, seeing that solved strip, maybe having to do with Splynter's observation about compartmentalization. But I enjoyed getting what I did get, and looking up and cheating on the rest. So, many thanks, Pawel, and you too, Splynter, for a fun and informative write-up.
Hope I get my taxes done soon--always a hassle.
Looking forward to hearing the Orange County Women's Chorus tomorrow. A number of friends will be singing and it will be lovely.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Leon and Gato are Spanish, not Frawnch.
It's amazing how often we see these questions about Elvis Aron Presley's middle name and also about EROS on Piccadilly yet the article linked by CEDave clearly explains that though it was originally meant to be Anteros, it became known as EROS. Other puzzles I solve clue it as in today's CW. And it's a known fact (not by everyone apparently) that ARON is the way Evis's name is spelled.
I work on at least three puzzle a day so I know those particular clues are commonly used.
Whew, this was quite a challenge. Red letters and several trips to Google were needed. I echo Old Man Keith's observation that "Xwd building ain't for sissies." I also echo AnonymousPVX's suggestion that "let's do the whole puzzle in stupid French, then everyone can throw it away and we can have real clues and answers again?"
I always thought Frank Sinatra was singing "Shooby dooby doo" in that song.
Two things to say about León: (1) Like the Metz meal clue and others, where the first word is the name of a place, I thought the clue was referring to León as a place name, so I was trying for a family relative in Spanish. (2) I don't think GATO (cat) is any more a relative of León (lion) than DOG would be a relative of, say, Golden Retriever.
Bill G, I was also taught that every vowel in the Hawaiian language is pronounced. Thus Mauna is pronounced Ma-oo-na, lei is pronounce leh-ee, and Hawaii is, of course, pronounced Ha-wa-ee-ee.
Best wishes to you all.
For those of us who have bemoaned the weird gimmicks in the Sunday NYT puzzles, this week's offering is fairly straight forward and not gimmicky. It has circles but the theme helps us to understand them. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to you. FIR.
The Piccadilly Circle statue is of the brother of Eros, named Anteros. He was the god of mutual love rather than of wanton sexual desire. Since the statue is very commonly, though, erroneously named Eros, the clue/answer doesn't bother me.
Scooby
Silverman was inspired by Frank Sinatra's scat "doo-be-doo-be-doo" at the end of his recording of "Strangers in the Night" on a flight to one of the development meetings, and decided to rename the dog "Scooby-Doo" and re-rechristen the show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Sinatra
Felidae is the family of cats. A member of this family is also called a felid.
Living cats belong to the subfamilies:
Pantherinae – comprising the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard and Sunda clouded leopard
Felinae – including all the non-pantherine cats (and our pets)
I once read, re: ARON, what Bill G said; his [the King, not Bill G's] parents weren't entirely literate [Bill G, did you post that article? :-)]
Lucina - Re: those obviously "wrong" c/as... You doin' the puzzles in BuzzFeed again? ;-)
Just to be clear how Aaron and other white names are spelt/pronounced.
[BTW, Jordon Peele has #1 movie right now..]
-T OUTTA here
On the first pass the NW was a total blank slate because it would either be FINLAND-IA or LITHUANIA, which I wasn't sure of the spelling. After filling two-ON-ONE I flew south. The SW fell fairly rapidly even though REPAS was unknown and perped. The SE had CLAIROL and LEO-I and that was about it. I thought I had HIT (rock) BOTTOM and put the puzzle down and was OUTTA there to go get a flat repaired when Goodyear opened. (I do the puzzle in the newspaper so I'm never ON THE CLOCK) At that point I thought there was NOT A CHANCE that I would complete it.
I came back home and after a few minutes everything just fell into place with PHOTO BOMB, MISO, & BAS finishing it. I had heard the term PHOTO BOMB before but had no idea what it referred to. My brain was thinking 'circle' (Mercedes emblem) and I kept wondering how to TRISECT it with just two line-duh. I wasn't thinking rectancle. MONA, CHI, MISO, REPAS were unknowns.
One night a group of us went to a play at 'Le Chat Noir' theater and then went to eat at 'El Gato Negro' restaurant. Theater is now closed but the restaurant now has multiple locations.
WikWak- we had no problem with VAPOR WARE back in the 70's. There were many one-horse operations. IBM provided our monitor (now called operating system) and we wrote everything from scratch. 80 column punch cards.
BillG- Some Hawaiians told me that originally only twelve letters were used and that all the Hawaiian words were pronounced the way Spanish is spoken. True or not, I don't know.
Guess I got hooked on the double meaning of Léon. Was going for the region or city. Pawel had other double meaning entries; so I must work on being more alert.
Funny; Dutch is leeuw, German is Löwe.
Should have gotten it.
Learning moment #4
Anything & everything that YellowRocks posts...
Felidae?
Pantherinae?
I am intrigued...
Anonymous T,
OMG!
That is the scariest trailer I have ever seen!
WTF is going on!
CED - It was meant to be scary based on Dracula/ FEARhorror films coupled w/ the black experience [New Yorker review].
Sigh, No one did, so, I'll go there in the quest for humour that's real... Did no one connect 4d and 32a? I mean, com'on, THA' 'IGERS Crazy!* -T. [I love Pryor, RIP]
Of all the xwords this week, this is the only one I got perfect. I did look up the definition of RipTIDE to eliminate it. LEE quickly followed.
Lucina had me chuckling with the "4th grade geography" line. Pawky?
So I'm singing Strangers... and I recall a dog named Chance. One letter short but so close. My last fill was the S in OTBs and it was time to borrow a V8 can.
Okay "Stupid French" clues.
Voulez vous couchez avec _ _ _?
Mademoiselle d'Armontieres _ _ _ _ _ _ vous, along with _ _ _ _ Dinky ....
Naturally I liked Pavel's xword, I just noticed that perpendicular to GATO was LEO I. So, Mr F. was giving us a subtle hint.
Splynter, enjoyed your write-up with the links. I thought you might have something else for HIT BOTTOM, but after needing to have the joke explained HIT funny bone.
Duke vs NC tonight. I remember when the two teams practically were the vowels vs the consonants. With Krzyzewski exhibit A. That was in the 90s.
I would think the World Bank was the complement to IMF. Anybody read that book about the founding of IMF in Breton Woods NH in 1944, with none other than John Maynard Keynes chairing?
YR. What was that fabulous clue/answer a week or two ago in NYT xword? I'll look it up, see if you recall it.
Solution to Jersey SHORE character's incontinence. 21 ltrs. Answer at 1030 tonight.
WC feeling pawky
Ps. You want a clue? The clue is in the clue
Pps. Splynter: L.E.B.T.F. ??wilburc44@gmail.com if you need to go off line
AnonT:
Buzzfeed? What's buzzfeed? And does it have CW puzzles? I'm sorry to disappoint but I buy puzzle books, finished one by Peter Gordon, then Merle Reagle and now have one edited by Simon and Schuster with a variety of constructors including many who also do the LAT. I recommend them to all who would like to have more practice in solving.
Wilbur Charles:
I taught 4th grade for over 30 years so I was not being facetious.
I don't mean to get wordy,
but I am "more than happy" to post this link... (9:05)
CED - LOL Carlin...He's #1 stand-up in my book.
Lucina - FLN. Lem lamented that BuzzFeed (an online "news" echo chamber) discontinued its xword. I was trying to make funny. I know you posted real c/as and hence I was poking light at Anonymousee for 'correcting' Rich, et.al. in re: EROS along with you. I guess I was funny by 1/2. C, -T
Lucina, the reason I posted was that I'd had the thought, prior, that LITHUANIA was basic geography. Ok. I was thinking 8th grade.
But you said something hilarious this week about the elephant and the piano and I thought perhaps there was a soupçon of mischief there
There sure would have been if I'd posted it. Btw, in 6th grade we played a game with the globe trying to find obscure places. Like Perth.
The clue/answer from an old NYT xword was DEPENDS ON THE SITUATION. (Solution to Jersey Shore character's incontinence)
Like some of you I didn't enjoy Rex's blog.
WC later than I'd thought
Ps. Owen, I loved all of your'Licks today
Especially the third one you graded C???
Unless you're comparing oneself with POE
Pps. I tried that Rizer puzzle. I had no problems with the baseball questions but the software didn't seem compatible with my Android.
I'm a newspaper and ink guy.
AnonT & Wilbur:
I know you were joking and I got it but thought I should make myself clear anyway. Pushing my students a bit farther than required was my goal when teaching though 4th grade was then only intro to geography. Making it fun and enjoyable was my way to help them remember; I hope they did. At least one of my students I know of became a teacher and a principal so maybe I reached that goal in his case.
Anon @ 12:35
I get your nit BUT: this is London's statue and Londoners call it the Statue of Eros. Is it Eros' brother? They don't think so.
...This statue of a winged archer poised with his bow is known as The Statue of Eros. Eros was the God of Love. The statue might really be the Angel of Christian Charity, or Anteros, the brother of Eros, but Londoners call him Eros.
Read more at http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/752997-statue-of-eros#qwJHWL3PKJ6Tc4D3.99
1. There are no buffalo in America but we call bison buffalo.
2. Indians are from Asia but we call Native Americans Indians.
Crossword clues are meant to lead you to the answer, not be a scientific, irrefutable statement of fact.
FIR with no cheats, but this was brutal! The last to fall for me was the West.
Since we already had the Unser racers I was guessing the MAN O WAR thing might be a horse. But I don't know the names of many horses. This one did exist in the cobwebs of memory. Needed PRIMAL to go with FEAR dredged out of other cobwebbed areas to get that area.
No idea about CHI. Hand up that it looked unlikely. Thanks for explaining GATO which I left only because the crosses were solid. No idea what Two ON ONE is about. Must be a sports thing which is an area I know nothing about. REPAS and MONA unknown, too.
Clear of snow seemed to want a verb like SHOVEL. Anyone else?
And OPEN did not seem likely to go with SECRET. I wanted DEEP or DARK. Anyone else?
Yes, VAPORWARE is a term in the cutting edge of technology which was my previous career.
I suggest the author of this puzzle learn the correct spelling of some of answers. Maybe it's because his own name is such a cornucopia of alpha characters. Bah!
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